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Loeb's hopes of Dakar glory in ruins

rugby18 January 2024 16:41| © AFP
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Sebastien Loeb © X (@SebastienLoeb)

French rally great Sebastien Loeb's hopes of a first ever Dakar Rally success all but evaporated on Thursday after he was stranded in the desert for more than an hour due to a mechanical problem.

Loeb's misery was a stark contrast to fellow Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit.

His rich vein of form in the final week carried on as he recorded his second successive stage win in his Toyota on what is the penultimate day of the rally.

The 49-year-old Loeb, a record nine time world rally champion, trailed overall leader Carlos Sainz by just over 13 minutes at the start of the stage.

However, his Prodrive Hunter car came to a halt 132 kilometres into the 480km special from Al-Ula to Yanbu, regarded as the key stage of the second week of the gruelling rally.

"The day got off to a bad start. We hit a stone hidden behind a summit. It was a big impact. Others took it too, some just punctured. We twisted the triangle," said Loeb.

He and his co-driver Fabian Lurquin were then unable to repair their Prodrive Hunter alone.

By the time he resumed – a car from the Chinese team YunXiang and partner of Prodrive had stopped to help the disconsolate Frenchman – the runner-up in the past two editions was over an hour adrift of Sainz.

"We even thought about not resuming, waiting for our assistance truck, leaving the special and returning. Luckily, our Chinese teammate (Yungang Zi) had the triangle on his Hunter. So we were able to repair and leave," added Loeb.

Loeb drops to third place overall, now 1 hour 35 minutes behind Sainz.

'NO NEED TO RUSH'

Sainz finished his race 5min 35sec behind Chicherit and, barring a major mechanical problem on the 12th stage, is 24 hours away from adding to the titles he won in 2010, 2018 and 2020.

"From the moment we saw Seb stopped at the edge of the track, we no longer took any risks," said the 61-year-old Spaniard.

"If (Loeb) lost one hour, I don't need to rush tomorrow."

But the driver from Madrid insisted he would not be taking his fourth Dakar title for granted.

"Despite the lead I have, I know these situations well where we first have to finish the race, we will try to do it tomorrow."

Belgian Guillaume de Mevius (Toyota) finished third in the stage at 5min 32sec and moved up to second overall, 1hr 27min behind Sainz.

Chicherit moves to fourth.

"It was really strong. Alex (Winocq, his co-driver) did an incredible job, he never doubted," said the French driver.

"We really drove clean, we took zero risks, it went well."

The competitors remain on the shores of the Red Sea on Friday for a 175km loop around Yanbu, in the 12th and final stage of this year's race.

In the motorbike category, Ross Branch kept alive his slim hopes of winning the crown as the Botswanan posted his second stage win of this year's contest.

The 37-year-old South Africa-born Hero rider took 32 seconds off overall leader Ricky Brabec's lead but the American still holds a 10min 22sec lead going into Friday's final stage – 175km ride around Yanbu.

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