Loeb forced out of Dakar 2025 on safety grounds after crash

Dacia star Sebastien Loeb has been pressured to withdraw from the 2025 Dakar Rally on account of a barrel roll on Tuesday, with the FIA deeming his automotive too broken to proceed.

Loeb’s Dacia Sandrider flipped over initially of the third stage between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, leaving items of bodywork scattered throughout the sand.

Though the Frenchman was capable of full some fast repairs and make it to the bivouac by the tip of the day, albeit after a time lack of almost an hour, the FIA arrived at Dacia’s camp later within the day to conduct a radical analysis of his automotive.

The regulatory physique wished to make sure that any deformation to the construction was inside the set restrict and Loeb and his co-driver Fabian Lurquin could be secure contained in the cabin in case of a repeat incident.

Following the evaluation, it concluded that injury sustained to the automotive was merely an excessive amount of for them to proceed, forcing their untimely exit from the sequence.

Loeb’s retirement from the rally early follows reigning champion Carlos Sainz Sr’s withdrawal after his Ford Raptor suffered roll cage injury after a rollover in the course of the 48-hour Stage 2.

#219 The Dacia Sandriders Dacia: Sebastien Loeb, Fabian Lurquin

Photograph by: Crimson Bull Content material Pool

Laia Sanz additionally needed to exit the occasion on security grounds after one of many bars on the roll cage of her Century CR6-T was displaced by simply 2mm in a crash on Saturday. It ended her streak of categorized Dakar finishes courting again to her first look within the bikes class in 2011.

Toyota driver Henk Lategan holds a small however comfy 7m17s lead over Loeb’s team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah heading into the fourth stage on Wednesday, a 415km check between Al Henakiyah and Al-Ula. 

Al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar winner, is now Dacia’s final remaining contender within the rally, with Cristina Gutierrez having retired from Stage 2 with a damaged steering rack. She was capable of rejoin the rally on Tuesday as per WRC-style guidelines launched for the primary time in 2022, however is now not within the combat for general victory.

Images from Dakar Rally Stage 3