It was therefore the Dakar of bad luck for Sébastien Loeb. Once again, one could say, because with each edition, the scenario repeats itself for the former boss of the WRC, who still fails to tame the most famous of rally raids. Coming back just thirteen minutes behind leader Carlos Sainz at the start of the 11th and penultimate stage this Thursday, the French driver said goodbye to his hopes of victory due to a mechanical problem.
Setting out with his teeth in his teeth to attack the 420 km on the menu of this special between Al-Ula and Yanbu, Loeb (Prodrive) stopped dead at km 132, front right suspension triangle completely twisted. With his co-driver Fabian Lurquin, they quickly had to face the facts: it was impossible to repair things alone. The Franco-Belgian crew therefore called the race management to come and pick them up. End of the trip.
It is therefore not this year that Loeb will add his name to the list. However, he fought to get back into the match, after a catastrophic start to the race. Two punctures during the very first stage, just to get in good shape, and then three more during the 3rd stage. The bad luck.
The French driver then caught up little by little, winning the 4th special, then the famous “48 hours flat”, then yet another special, to put pressure on the leader Carlos Sainz and offer himself a breathtaking duel on the last two days of racing. But this 11th round, traced through the stones, was fatal to him.
A highway for Sainz
“We often had the performance but we often had small mechanical problems which made us lose time, sometimes stupid things on my part, also navigation errors,” explained the Alsatian before the start. And every year I got one of three. We don’t have a lot of room for mistakes. » This time, it was rather this little bit of luck to get through the drops that escaped him.
Carlos Sainz (Audi), who started after him and therefore knows that his main competitor has given up since he overtook him, now has a highway in front of him for the final victory.