Dacia star Sebastien Loeb has been forced to withdraw from the 2025 Dakar Rally as a result of a barrel roll on Tuesday, with the FIA deeming his car too damaged to continue.
Loeb’s Dacia Sandrider flipped over at the start of the third stage between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, leaving pieces of bodywork scattered across the sand.
Although the Frenchman was able to complete some quick repairs and make it to the bivouac by the end of the day, albeit after a time loss of nearly an hour, the FIA arrived at Dacia’s camp later in the day to conduct a thorough evaluation of his car.
The regulatory body wanted to be certain that any deformation to the structure was within the set limit and Loeb and his co-driver Fabian Lurquin would be safe inside the cabin in case of a repeat incident.
Following the review, it concluded that damage sustained to the car was simply too much for them to continue, forcing their premature exit from the series.
Loeb's retirement from the rally early follows reigning champion Carlos Sainz Sr's withdrawal after his Ford Raptor suffered roll cage damage after a rollover during the 48-hour Stage 2.
Laia Sanz also had to exit the event on safety grounds after one of the bars on the roll cage of her Century CR6-T was displaced by just 2mm in a crash on Saturday. It ended her streak of classified Dakar finishes dating back to her first appearance in the bikes category in 2011.
Toyota driver Henk Lategan holds a small but comfortable 7m17s lead over Loeb’s team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah heading into the fourth stage on Wednesday, a 415km test between Al Henakiyah and Al-Ula.
Al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar winner, is now Dacia’s last remaining contender in the rally, with Cristina Gutierrez having retired from Stage 2 with a broken steering rack. She was able to rejoin the rally on Tuesday as per WRC-style rules introduced for the first time in 2022, but is no longer in the fight for overall victory.
