“A smart race avoiding excesses and stupidities would surely pay off”: Sébastien Loeb aims for the title after nine unsuccessful Dakars

Sébastien Loeb vise la victoire finale après neuf tentatives infructueuses. MAXPPP – Red Bull Media

Loeb collectionne pourtant les places d’honneur (3e en 2019 et 2024, 2e en 2017, 2022 et 2023).

Nine-time rally world champion but never crowned on the Dakar, Sébastien Loeb knows he is expected at the turn of the dune. On the eve of the green light for the famous rally-raid in Saudi Arabia, the French driver aspires to a “intelligent race” without “excess and bullshit”.

With flip-flops on his feet, Bermuda shorts and a sage green polo shirt – the colour of his new team, Dacia, the 50-year-old Alsatian receives AFP between two technical checks in a tent at the dusty bivouac of the Dakar-2025 start in Bisha, in the southwest of Saudi Arabia. “I think that an intelligent race avoiding excess and bullshit would surely pay off”, philosophizes the champion with ice blue eyes, who has experienced multiple mishaps during the previous editions.

Five podiums, zero victories

For his ninth participation in the most famous rally-raid event, which takes place from January 3 to 17 over 8,000 km across Saudi Arabia, Sébastien Loeb hopes to finally climb to the top step of the podium, which has so often eluded him by so little (3rd in 2019 and 2024, 2nd in 2017, 2022 and 2023).

But for this 2025 edition, the organizers have complicated the task of the cars by separating their route from that of the motorcycles over 45% of the mileage of the special stages (timed sections that count for the ranking). Faster, the latter leave traces in the desert sand that facilitate the navigation of the four wheels arriving behind.

Carlos (Sainz) who taught us the lesson. He did not win a special last year and he wins the rally

“In previous years, we saw that attacking paid off, even when we opened the road behind the bikes. Two years ago, I won six special stages in a row by opening the road. With the tracks of the bikes, in certain types of terrain, it was enough”, explains the rider.

A race “open” to all types of daring

But in the new conditions, opening the road by car, as the winner of the previous stage must do, could on the contrary prove to be a handicap. Without landmarks, navigation errors could multiply among competitors. “Since there will be no trace at all, I think that the gaps will not be to the second or the minute as it was. It could be several minutes lost by the first cars compared to those that start behind”, he fears.

For Sébastien Loeb, who was bitten by the speed bug as a teenager, history shows that the Dakar is a “rally of regularity”. “It was Carlos (Sainz) who taught us the lesson. He didn't win a special stage last year and he wins the rally”, notes the Frenchman, still bitter about his third place in January 2024 despite five stage victories.

Competition from Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah

For this edition, he will team up in the cockpit with Belgian navigator Fabian Lurquin and will be at the wheel of a new vehicle, the Dacia Sandrider. Learning from his past mechanical problems, technical improvements have been made compared to his previous cars, such as reinforcing the half-axles or moving the exhaust pipes that heated the tires.

However, his Prodrive Hunter from last year, “was perfo'. “We won a lot of specials with it. We shouldn't want to revolutionize everything to do stupid things”, he qualifies. The competitor he fears the most in the Saudi sands ? His teammate at Dacia, the Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah, already crowned five times on the Dakar. “He's still the guy who has enormous experience in this type of rally, in the desert. But in terms of brands, it's open.”