The Dacia Sandriders’ Sébastien Loeb heads into the final day of the South African Safari Rally firmly in the fight for victory on round three of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.
With Fabian Lurquin navigating, Loeb completed today’s penultimate stage, which took crews on a challenging looped route from the Sun City Bivouac, with the eight quickest time in his sustainable-fuelled Dacia Sandrider.
He’d started Stage 4 of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) qualifier this morning as the overall leader from fourth on the road, although ran in third position for much of the day after Mathieu Serradori retired after three kilometres. Loeb’s charging endeavour means he begins Saturday’s 111-kilometre Stage 5, 39s adrift of new leader and local hero Henk Lategan.
Following his stage-winning heroics on Thursday, Nasser Al-Attiyah was hamstrung throughout Friday by opening the road in his Dacia Sandrider. The W2RC points leader after his Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge victory in February, Al-Attiyah dropped more than eight minutes as he fought against a lack of grip and lines to follow alongside navigator Édouard Boulanger.
Although Al-Attiyah dropped time today, he set out from the Sun City Bivouac this morning in the knowledge that the two-minute time penalty for over-speeding in a restricted section on Stage 3 had been rescinded. Nevertheless, the 15 minutes added to his overall time for inadvertently missing a waypoint on Wednesday means the Qatari driver is out of contention for a top result. However, he was able to gain one position in the overall ranking today, moving up from 12th to 11th place.
The inaugural South African Safari Rally concludes tomorrow, Saturday May 24, with a 111-kilometre route close to event base Sun City.
KEY QUOTES
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar), Driver, The Dacia Sandriders : « It was a good day, it was very important to finish. We know we were losing time but we cannot do anything because it was difficult to open the road. We made no mistakes and tried to keep in the fight for tomorrow, at least to take some points for the championship. I will push to try to win the stage at least and have five points. Today the pacenotes were working and we are so happy to have finished. »
Sébastien Loeb (France), Driver, The Dacia Sandriders : « It was not an easy day, the stage was not very long but, especially in the first part of the stage there was a lot of navigation. It was a tricky track to find but, at the end, being third on the road was not easy but we did a good stage. I had a really strong rhythm in the second half of the stage trying to catch back some time, so in the end it’s not too bad. We are still in a good position for tomorrow. It’s 39 seconds to Henk Lategan but, okay, we will be eight on the road, he will be seventh, so it’s not a big difference but we will see, we have to continue like this. »
SOUTH AFRICAN SAFARI RALLY STAGE 4 RESULTS – Sun City-Sun City
Stage distance: 224km Liaison distance: 469km Total distance: 694km
8th: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), 2h13m27s
17th: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 2h17m39s
SOUTH AFRICAN SAFARI RALLY PROVISIONAL OVERALL RESULTS AFTER STAGE 4
2nd: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL) +39s
11th: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), +13m48s
SOUTH AFRICAN SAFARI RALLY: THE BIG NUMBER
65: Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin start the deciding stage of the South African Safari Rally
65 seconds adrift of first place for The Dacia Sandriders with 111 timed kilometres remaining.
THE DAY AHEAD: STAGE 5, MAY 24
With 111 kilometres against the clock, the fifth and final stage of the South African Safari Rally is, according to the organisers, « a fast-paced loop through red dirt tracks and open farmlands, with some narrow sections through invasive bush ». It’s located in close proximity to Sun City.
Stage distance: 111km Liaison distance: 111km Total distance: 222km
Linda Hirvonen,