Dakar 2025: Rally moves towards AlUla as Loeb withdrawn
9th January 2025The Dakar Rally continues north in the first part of the marathon stage for stage four of the event, moving from Al-Henakiyah to AlUla, as Sebastien Loeb is withdrawn for safety.
Feature image credit: DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool
Stage four started the marathon stage which moved the crews northwards, along the western coast of Saudi Arabia, from Al-Henakiyah to AlUla with 588km of terrain to be covered. This was the first stage of the Marathon as the second part, heading east towards Hail, would be completed on Thursday, January 9.
On the 48 Hour Chrono, earlier on in the rally event, Carlos Sainz of Ford M-Sport was withdrawn from the event. Having rolled on stage three, but managing to continue, it was confirmed that Sainz’s fellow World Rally Champion, The Dacia Sandriders’ Sebastien Loeb joined Sainz on the withdrawal list.
Loeb’s retirement from the event is a disappointing one as it was revealed that the reason for withdrawing the WRC world champion was due to safety concerns after the car sustained deformation after the crash in stage three.
The Dakar moved north yesterday, towards Al Henakiyah, here’s a round-up of the action. #Dakar2025 / #DakarRally https://t.co/Iik600wnS4
— Apex Motorsports (@ApexMSPRT) January 8, 2025
Daniel Saunders continues to carry good momentum in the bike category having led the Dakar for the class since the event started. In-form Saunders remains the class leader with a total time of 25 hours, 15 minutes and 33 seconds.
Spain’s Tosha Schareina of Monster Energy Honda swapped around with their teammate Skyler Howes for second place, with the latter dropping to fourth. Hero Motorsports Team’s Ross Branch remains third overall, 26 minutes behind.
Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings remain the Toyota Gazoo Racing car-class leaders with an elapsed time of 23 hours, 36 minutes, and 24 seconds. Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk of Overdrive Racing and Mattias Ekstrom and Emil Bergkvist of Ford M-Sport completed the top three.
A maximum of 21 minutes and 40 seconds separates the top three from the class leader, with Al Rajhi and Gottschalk just under seven minutes behind.
Sebastien Loeb Racing remain the SSV leaders but the lead has changed hands with Brock Heger and Max Eddy overtaking their teammates Xavier de Soultrait and Martin Bonnet for the rally lead. Alexandre Pinto and Bernando Oliveira of Old Friends Rally remain in third, nearly an hour and a half behind.
It’s a similar story in the Truck class as the top three remain unchanged with MM Technology leading the way, crewed by Martin Macik, Frantisek Tomasek and David Svanda. Instatrade Loprais Team’s Ales Loprais, David Kripal and Darek Rodewald remain behind the truck leaders, 45 minutes behind as Skuba Team’s Vaidotas Zala, Paulo Fiuza and Max van Grol remain in third.
Read more Rally Raid here:
- Dakar 2025: Rally moves north as Sebastien Loeb rolls
- Dakar Rally 2025: 48H Chrono completed as Sainz retires
- Dakar Rally 2025: Quintero credited win as the iconic rally begins
- Dakar Rally 2024 – Stage 10: Alula loop maintains the title fight
- Dakar Rally 2024 – Stage 6: 48H Chrono completed
- Dakar Rally – Stage 5: Tackling Empty Quarter dunes as 48H Chrono looms
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