If Sébastien Loeb is the specialist each year to see mechanical problems keep him from a coronation on the Dakar, during this third stage, the nine-time world rally champion this time only needed the help of no bad luck.
Sébastien Loeb, the ultimate fisherman
For this third stage between Bisha and Al-Henakiyah, Sébastien Loeb was crossing his fingers that his fans would work from start to finish, unlike last Sunday. But it took a small, innocuous bump to almost destroy his hopes of victory in the Dakar. The Frenchman lost the rear of his car, and rolled over several times after only 12 km of the stage, fortunately not serious for the crew. The latter thinks that it is the same for the car, before quickly becoming disillusioned. It’s the Dakar we love.
“It was a bleed but at an angle so it hit me sideways with the racket and off it went, that’s it… That’s how it is” Sébastien Loeb
If Loeb and Lurquin only lose eight minutes in the process, and start hoping for the general classification again, telling themselves that everything is not ruined, they must stop again 50 kilometers further on. It's like watching an old Formula Electric race with so many stops. Loeb and Lurquin, however, would have liked to be able to change cars, because they have to deal with a broken link on theirs. After several tens of minutes at a standstill, the Frenchman was finally able to leave thanks to the help of the other Dacia from the duo Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno. But the damage is done.
If Loeb had moved up to sixth place in the general classification the day before, returning to just 18 minutes behind the leader, he now occupies 16th place with 1 hour and 14 minutes behind. As they say in the jargon, you have time to see it coming. The Dakars follow one another and are similar for the Frenchman, and we are not going to complain about it.
