Sebastien Loeb still has a chance to return to the Dakar Rally despite being forced out of the event by the FIA on safety grounds, Autosport understands.
Following a barrel roll in Tuesday’s third stage between Bisha and Al Henankiyah in Saudi Arabia, the Frenchman’s Dacia Sandrider was thoroughly inspected by FIA’s technical stewards.
It was concluded that the roll cage on his car was damaged and the Frenchman was consequently not authorised to start Stage 4 on Wednesday.
However, his team Dacia appealed against the decision overnight, meaning he could be back in action later in the week after skipping the test between Al Henakiyah and Al’Ula.
It would be up to the stewards to decide whether Loeb can rejoin Dakar and compete for points in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, where Dacia is fighting against Toyota and Ford. Any chance of a competitive finish in Dakar was already gone after he lost one hour on Tuesday's test with the crash and other issues.
“The Dacia Sandriders has concluded that a section of the structure, although deformed, is not an integral part of the solidity of the [said] structure and, therefore, does not impact the safety of the car,” the Renault brand said in a statement.
“Although safety is always of paramount importance, the Dacia Sandriders shares the disappointment of Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin following the stewards' decision and has decided to appeal.”
Earlier, Dakar has excluded Loeb from the rally and announced the decision with the following statement: The Stewards have received a report from the FIA Technical Delegate [document N 6.3], and having heard from the Sporting Director, Virginie Soulaire, the engineers, Philip Danubin and David Lapworth, and the FIA Technical Delegate, it has been considered that at the end of Stage 3, the safety bar of car #219 was inspected and damage was found. The decision is to disqualify car #219 from the 2025 Dakar Rally."
Loeb is the third high-profile driver to have been forced out with car damage during the early stages of Dakar this year.
Earlier, Ford’s Carlos Sainz Sr was forced to withdraw from the event for the same reason after landing upside down after a roll in the 48-hour stage two.
Prior to that, Laia Sanz suffered her first ever retirement in Dakar when a roll bar on her Century CR6-T was displaced by 2mm after a crash on the first full day of the event.
