Loeb to return home after Dakar exit

Dacia has given up hope on nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb returning to the Dakar Rally following his forced exit from the event.

The FIA had not authorised Loeb to start the fourth test of 2025 on Wednesday after the roll cage of his Dacia Sandrider was found to have been damaged in a barrel roll in stage three on Tuesday.

Dacia had subsequently appealed against the decision overnight so he could be back in action later this week and potentially score points for the World Rally-Raid Championship, where the Renault group’s brand is fighting against Toyota and Ford on its debut.

However, following the end of Stage 4, Dacia’s appeal came to nothing, and Loeb is due to take a flight home from Jeddah later on Wednesday.

“It’s really frustrating to go back to Jeddah instead of being in the car fighting out there,” he said in a statement. 

“Especially when you see what happened today, there was still so much to fight for! With an hour and a quarter behind the leaders, there was still nothing lost. I’m sure we would have started a long way back, but there were opportunities to take, unfortunately, that’s just the way it is.”

Loeb suffered a relatively mid-speed rollover at the beginning of Stage 3, which left him with a hobbled car for the remainder of the day.

With some assistance from team-mate Cristina Gutierrez, the Frenchman was able to conduct necessary repairs and reach the end of the stage, although he had dropped outside the top 15 positions in the overall standings.

Like Dacia, Loeb didn’t agree with stewards’ decision to rule him out of the remainder of the event on safety grounds.

“As for our rollover, I honestly have no words,” he said. “It wasn’t because we were pushing too hard, we just got caught by a bad compression, it was as simple as that. We couldn’t do much at the time, it happens, but it’s no less frustrating.

“And then the stewards’ decision yesterday, honestly, it’s hard to swallow. I find it frustrating and disappointing because, in my opinion, it’s not based on solid arguments. Safety is very important, I understand that, but the line they have drawn here does not seem appropriate for our discipline, where we compete in extreme conditions.

“Our team provided evidence to prove that the roll cage was still solid, and I have full confidence in them. Even visually, you can see that safety was not compromised, so yes, it’s hard to accept.”

Photos from Dakar Rally Stage 4