He regained momentum on Sunday during the second stage, finishing 29 seconds behind “Monsieur Dakar”, Stéphane Peterhansel. A godsend after a first stage where Sébastien Loeb had punctured twice on a course dotted with canyons and volcanic rocks, very abrasive for the tires. But this Monday, the Saudi roads were once again capricious with the multiple world rally champion.
Loeb (Prodrive) punctured three times during this stage between Al Duwadini and Al Salamiya and finished 23’41 behind the winner, the Brazilian Lucas Moraes (Toyota), who won at the wire this Monday, nine seconds ahead of the Swede Mattias Ekström (Audi). Overall, the Alsatian is already almost 30 minutes behind the leader, Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota).
Watch out for navigation on Tuesday
Sébastien Loeb was not the only one to struggle on the road. The Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Prodrive) and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel may indeed have regrets. In the lead until km 404, their third puncture of the day was fatal for the stage victory and the two men took fourth place, at 1’33.
On arrival, the competitors had two hours of assistance on their vehicles, not a second more, before joining a “basic” bivouac where cars and motorcycles are placed in parc ferme before leaving on Tuesday. The terrain will be rolling for the fourth stage, but navigation promises to be tricky on this long route (631 km for 299 km of special) between Al-Salamiya and Al-Hofuf.