In an accident, Sébastien Loeb struggled to complete the 3rd stage of the Dakar on Tuesday, finishing 1 hour late. This setback should cost him his dream of a rally-raid coronation this year.
At km 12 of the 327 of today’s special between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, the Dacia of the 50-year-old Frenchman crossed the road after a bad bounce and carried out several impressive rollovers, which seriously damaged the vehicle .
The Frenchman and his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin restarted after a five-minute stop and repairs, but the consequences of the accident were felt for the rest of the race.
“We were able to continue but suddenly the steering link broke, because of the rollover I think (…) Then we had a problem with the engine overheating. We tried to finish the stage. We got there but in the end we lost an hour,” he regretted at the finish of the special.
A shortened special
Sébastien Loeb finished the course more than an hour after the winner of the day, the young South African Saood Variawa. This accident occurs the day after the retirement of the title holder Carlos Sainz, who had to give up due to the damage to his roll bar after his Ford Raptor rolled over during the “48 hours flat”.
Due to rain on the route, the Dakar Rally shortened the route for Tuesday’s special between Bisha and Al Henakiyah to 327 km, compared to the initial 496 km. The rally, currently led by the South African Henk Lategan in the car and the Australian Daniel Sanders on the motorcycle, ends on January 17 in the Empty Quarter desert.
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