06/01/2026

Sebastien Loeb left “almost at a standstill” in nightmare Dakar stage

Sebastien Loeb says he was forced to drive at “20%” of his Dacia’s potential after ceding more than 25 minutes in the third stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally.

The former WRC star had been sitting in a solid seventh in the standings after Tuesday’s second test, just six minutes off leader Seth Quintero of Toyota,

But the 421km-long Stage 3 on Tuesday turned the rally on its head, and while Ford dominated the day, Loeb was among several frontrunners who struggled simply to bring their cars home.

Suffering two separate punctures early on over the abrasive terrain of Al-Ula in Saudi Arabia, the Frenchman limped to the finish line in 25th place, 25m25s off Ford’s stage winner Mitch Guthrie.

The result was a serious blow to his ambition of finally adding a Dakar win to his impressive CV, as he dropped to 12th in the standings, more than 16 minutes behind new overall leader Guthrie.

Loeb insisted he had taken every possible precaution, but was still left almost “at a standstill” once his spare wheels were exhausted.

“It was a really difficult stage,” the 51-year-old lamented. “Actually, it’s just not suited to our cars. We’re driving at 20% of the car’s potential just to avoid punctures, and we still get punctures anyway.

“I’d already had two punctures after 100 km, whereas yesterday I had none.

“Today I started with the same mindset, being careful, and… punctures again. You don’t see them coming, and then once you’ve got two punctures and 300km still to go, with no spare wheel left, you end up driving almost at a standstill for the entire stage, and that’s it.

“Nasser Al-Attiyah lost time as well, less than me I think, but you can see cars arriving at the finish with punctured tyres — it was really tough. I’m already happy just to make it to the finish, because at one point I really didn’t think we would.”

#299 The Dacia Sandriders Dacia: Nasser Al-Attiyah, Fabian Lurquin

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah also endured a bruising day at the wheel of his Dacia Sandrider, dropping from first to 10th on the leaderboard after finishing Tuesday’s stage in 19th place, three minutes ahead of Loeb.

The Qatari driver now faces an 11-minute deficit in the general classification, with 10 stages still to run in the 48th edition of Dakar.

Al-Attiyah appeared less frustrated with the outcome, explaining how the result gives him a strategic advantage for the start of the marathon stage on Wednesday.

“Today was a good run for us, except in the last 100km we had two punctures and maybe 500 metres.

“Then, we decided just to survive to the finish, but OK, I think we did a good job.

“If we see the results today, I’m really happy for tomorrow because of the road position. Tomorrow, it will be very, very hard for everyone.”

With Dacia’s star duo suffering setbacks, reigning World Rally-Raid Champion Lucas Moraes led the way for the Renault Group brand, finishing in fourth position. Cristina Gutierrez, a former Extreme E champion, followed Moraes closely in fifth.

Moraes is now the highest-placed Dacia driver in the overall standings, holding sixth place ahead of Gutierrez.