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Sebastien Loeb believes tyres have turn out to be the decisive weak level within the Dakar Rally after his 2026 marketing campaign was derailed by a string of punctures.
World Rally Championship legend Loeb arrived in Saudi Arabia with a renewed hope of scoring that elusive Dakar win, having failed to take action in his earlier 9 participations.
However the Frenchman’s problem unravelled on Stage 3 when he ran out of spare tyres regardless of driving at “20% of the automobile’s potential”, leaving him “virtually at a standstill”.
Punctures continued to disrupt his marketing campaign, however he progressively recovered within the second week, capitalising on navigation errors from Ford drivers and the technical points that struck Toyota’s lead runner Henk Lategan.
Finally, he completed the rally in fourth, lacking out to Ford’s Mattias Ekstrom by 37 seconds for the ultimate podium place. Whereas reliability has traditionally performed a serious position within the Dakar, Loeb believes the equation has now shifted.
“Effectively, the issue is that immediately’s automobiles are extraordinarily highly effective, extraordinarily sturdy, and really comparable in efficiency, so to make a distinction, you must push onerous,” he informed the media together with Motorsport.com.
#219 The Dacia Sandriders Dacia: Sebastien Loeb
Photograph by: Crimson Bull Content material Pool
“Total, automobiles are dependable and strong. The one factor that breaks down is the tyres, really. In any other case, there’s not a lot that breaks on automobiles. You possibly can drive very quick, however you must keep away from getting a puncture, and that is what I did not handle to do that 12 months.”
Loeb’s frustration stemmed from the truth that the punctures he suffered had been unpredictable, particularly as he traversed by way of rocky terrain within the opening week.
BFGoodrich modified the interior construction of its cross-country tyres this 12 months, with the purpose of decreasing harm to the tread floor. It was really profitable in that regard, however the change in compound had the inadvertent impact of constructing the sidewall extra inclined to wreck.
“It could be good to enhance them,” Loeb stated of the tyres. “This 12 months, we had very tough terrain by way of rocks and so forth. Now we have automobiles which can be fairly heavy, extraordinarily sturdy and really highly effective, so sooner or later, our restrict by way of breakage is the tyres.
“It is actually tough to search out that restrict, to understand how a lot strain to place in in order to not get a puncture. Typically you drive flat out over the rocks and you do not get a puncture; generally you drive slowly and also you get a puncture. It’s totally onerous to search out the appropriate tempo, and I do not even assume there actually is one.”
Loeb’s team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah suffered comparatively few punctures and drove steadily to chalk up his sixth Dakar win.
#299 The Dacia Sandriders Dacia: Nasser Al-Attiyah
Photograph by: Crimson Bull Content material Pool
“Perhaps we should always ask Nasser how he does it, as a result of he will get fewer punctures. We will see it, we all know very effectively that we have to do […] on the tyres for the approaching years,” stated Loeb.
Other than an influence steering subject throughout the second week, which he needed to restore himself as a result of marathon stage guidelines, Loeb averted any severe mechanical issues, reinforcing his views that tyres are actually the limiting issue.
“Given what we ask of our automobiles, it is inevitable that one thing will break. It is a part of the sport, it is nonetheless a motor sport,” he stated.
“Contemplating what we put them by way of, they’re extraordinarily strong. Other than that [power steering issue], it is true that we’ve not had any issues, whether or not with the followers, the wishbones, the bits and items, the tie rods, every little thing that used to interrupt, it hasn’t damaged. So the staff has actually performed job.”
Whereas Loeb is but so as to add a Dakar win to his 9 WRC titles, he stated ending on the cusp of the rostrum wasn’t a catastrophe for him.
“Now we have no regrets, we tried,” he informed L’Equipe. “We all know that Ekstrom is formidable in one of these dash stage – he has been all through the rally. So we tried, we had stage, not too many errors, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient.
“Total, we won’t remorse a lot. Ending fourth is not too dangerous. In any case, victory had been out of attain for just a few days, so third or fourth is not a catastrophe.”
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