Loeb subsequent to endure rollover in cruel Dakar Rally

Global Rally Championship legend Sebastien Loeb suffered a brutal rollover at first of Tuesday’s Level 3 of the 2025 Dakar Rally.

Loeb’s Dacia Sandrider landed the wrong way up simply 12km into the shortened 327km check between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, leaving him with a critically broken automotive.

The Frenchman used to be in a position to make some fast maintenance and resume the degree after shedding simply 8 mins, however he needed to prevent once more after 63km, ostensibly because of the former crash.

Loeb’s troubles on Level 3 have dealt an additional blow to his hopes of profitable Dakar for the primary time, having already fared poorly within the opening levels of the 2025 match.

Numerous problems, together with a mechanical drawback with the fanatics on his Dacia, had left him in 6th position going into Tuesday’s operating, nearly 19 mins down on standings chief Henk Lategan of Toyota. Loeb’s team-mate Cristina Gutierrez needed to sacrifice her personal time out to be able to assist him achieve the bivouac.

The 50-year-old described the second one check in Bisha like a longer WRC rally, such used to be the depth of the 48-hour marathon degree.

 “We did not be expecting such a lot,” he mentioned. “The previous day [Sunday] we had given up, we could not make any further growth and we had already misplaced 40 mins. We did 900 kilometers of WRC whilst the auto labored.

“We went flat out and everywhere, and after all we controlled to regain the lead,” he defined. “We made up a large number of the misplaced time and I feel we’re 14 mins at the back of the degree winner, having misplaced 40 mins alongside the best way, which isn’t dangerous. The previous day the auto began to heat up and we spotted that the entrance fan used to be now not turning.

“We began to lose energy and crawled as highest lets sooner than we misplaced the rear fan, so there used to be just one left.

“We have been going 30km/h after we misplaced the 3rd fan, and the auto got here to a whole prevent. We needed to look ahead to it to chill down sooner than lets restart it, we recovered a fan and went to the refuelling like this, ready on the most sensible of each and every dune for it to chill down sooner than mountain climbing the dune in entrance people.

“And rapidly, the fan set to work once more. Pablo [Moreno] and Cristina [Gutierrez] arrived and helped us, particularly Pablo who is a superb mechanic. 

“They gave us a relay that we had already modified, and because of him for that fan, and by accident for the others, it set to work once more, and because then it is been going complete steam forward. It is a drawback we’ve got had since July and it is what I used to be maximum nervous about after I got here; I am hoping it really works.”