Bored by the wind and then penalized, Loeb loses ground in Abu Dhabi: "Difficult to be in the right rhythm in these conditions"

By winning Stage 2 on Monday, his first victory of 2025, Sébastien Loeb knew he was exposing himself to a loss of time during Stage 3 this Tuesday. Starting in first position of the Ultimate category cars, the Alsatian would have to open the road. A position far from advantageous… and even more restrictive when the weather conditions get involved. In a strong wind and powerful gusts, the Dacia driver could not even count on the tracks left by the passage of the motorcycles upstream on this 237-kilometre-long special stage.

Stage 3 – P6 ☑️

A special stage made difficult by a storm and a very strong wind that erased the tracks of the bikes. Starting first this morning it was not ideal. Result, a few minutes lost (and 2' more following a penalty).#dacia pic.twitter.com/7SoJIdwNSS

- Sébastien Loeb (@SebastienLoeb) February 25, 2025

Result: forced to navigate blindly on this stage, Sébastien Loeb lost 4'38 on the winner of the day, Nasser Al-Attiyah, at the finish at Marathon Camp. A delay that would become even greater a few hours later, when the race stewards imposed on him a two-minute penalty for speeding in a restricted area. Finally ranked 6th in the stage, with consequently 6'38 behind his Qatari teammate, the Frenchman lost the lead of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and finds himself relegated to 3rd place overall with 2'46 behind Nasser Al-Attiyah, new leader of the Emirati event.

« Difficult special: we were the first to leave and there was a lot of wind so the tracks [of the motorbikes] had been erased, explains the Frenchman at the Marathon Camp, the finish point of Stage 3. We couldn't necessarily follow the tracks of the bikes, which made life difficult for the first car. We got lost a little at one point, but overall, it's difficult to be in the right rhythm in these conditions."

Loeb to play his all on Wednesday

Although he has lost ground on his teammate in the general classification, Sébastien Loeb will have the opportunity to make up for it in the next stage, on Wednesday, on the way back to Mezeer'ah. The Dacia driver will be the sixth driver to set off on Stage 4, the longest of the event, and will start well after Nasser Al-Attiyah, who will have the thankless role of opener in the Ultimate category. The Qatari, leader of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge by just 49 seconds ahead of Lucas Moraes, is first of all pleased with his performance today and his stage victory on Tuesday.

“The stage was very difficult today, but I think we did a very good job, recognizes the Qatari. We won the stage, we didn't have any problems, but it was complicated because there was a lot of wind and sometimes the tracks disappeared." Gusts are expected to continue on Stage 4: will Sébastien Loeb be able to turn the wind in his favour before the final showdown on Thursday?

ALSO READ > After three stages, Dacia dominates the debates in Abu Dhabi: "Keep this advantage until the end of the rally"