Nine-times world rally champion Sebastien Loeb is out of the Dakar Rally after he rolled his Dacia in the Saudi desert on Tuesday as the race continued to take a toll of the big names after the exit of 2024 winner Carlos Sainz.

Sebastien Loeb struggled to complete Stage 3 of the Dakar Rally on Tuesday after rolling his car near the start, a setback that is likely to cost him his dream of a first title in the event. The nine-time World Rally Champion went off the road 12 kilometres into the 327-stage between Bisha and Al Henakiyah.

Nineteen-year-old Saood Variawa of South Africa became the youngest top-class driver to win a stage in the Dakar Rally.

2025 Dakar Stage 3 saw another leading player roll his race machine. You can read about and watch Sebastien Loeb’s accident at this link. The FIA deemed that the Frenchman’s Dacia Sandrider sustained too much damage to continue. As a result, Loeb was forced to retire ahead of 2025 Dakar Stage 4.

He was forced to pull out of the race for a third time and follows defending champion Carlos Sainz, who crashed the previous day. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Loeb, who has finished second three times in the Dakar Rally, ended the stage in 4 hours 20 minutes 12 seconds, more than an hour behind the day's winner, 19-year-old South African Saood Variawa.

Five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah has been stripped of a smashing stage win in the Dakar Rally because of a missing spare wheel in the Saudi desert.