Loeb: “At this rate, it will take six months to catch up with Al-Attiyah.”

French Sebastian Loeb (Prodrive) has won its ninth Dakar special. His third victory in this rally was his second in a row, recovering from a bad start to the raid and although he is already third, 1h43:08 leader Nasser Al-Attiyah thinks it’s impossible to get in touch with him.

“At this rate, it will take me six months to catch Nasser. All in all, today was a good day and I’m happy to finish the stage,” he said after the finish line.

The Alsatians were penalized 2:10 for showing up late to their timed start.

“This morning we had quite a scare. At the start of the rally we thought for a moment that we were back to the old ways. They gave us a few minute penalty but that’s it too. “It’s nothing serious,” he explained.

He noted that he “stopped at the rink before the start of the special and had no way of starting the car when resuming the march”.

“I had no fuel pressure. I checked all the connections and called my engineer. Probably the connector moved behind the fuel pump, coinciding with the moment the FIA ​​made the record. Check all Then I reset and restarted my career.”

This setback caused him to arrive ten minutes late at the start of a “very fast” stage, following an incorrect motorcycle track, thus losing “seven or eight minutes” until he found his way.