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After a difficult start to the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, Sebastien Loeb is calling on his vast experience and legendary fighting qualities to put Bahrain Raid Xtreme back on track for a first victory in the event.
Over the first four stages, Loeb and co-driver Fabian Lurquin endured more than their fair share of misfortune in the BRX Prodrive Hunter, but were looking to bounce back with the kind of form which put them in the Dakar record books last year.
Three punctures and urgent repair work resulted in nine-time World Rally Champion Loeb losing 25 minutes on the 438km Stage 3 from Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya, dropping him to ninth place overall.
But with another nine tough desert stages remaining before the finish in Yanbu on January 19, the Frenchman was confident of a recovery at the wheel of the BRX Prodrive Hunter which brought him a record six Dakar stage wins in a row 12 months ago, and seven overall.
Loeb and Lurquin have finished second in each of the last two editions of the Dakar Rally behind Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah, plunging to 22nd spot on the opening stage before recovering over the next two days to lie in fourth place.
At this point, Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al Rajhi held the overall lead in a Toyota Hilux, but only by 29 seconds from the Audi of Spain’s Carlos Sainz.
Reaching the finish of the third stage, Loeb said, “After the third puncture we needed to repair it and then had to stop every 20 km to inflate the tyre again and again. We really are unlucky as the puncture is within the tread of the tyre, not on the sidewall, but that’s it so we finished the stage. Sure we lost 25 minutes but it could have been worse.”
On completion of stage three, the BRX Prodrive technical crew and the other teams were restricted to just two hours of work on their vehicles before competitors headed off for the overnight camp at the bivouac.
This is the eighth Dakar Rally for Loeb and the fourth for the powerful Hunter which has been built and prepared for BRX by world-leading UK-based motorsport business, Prodrive, now celebrating its 40th anniversary year.
