Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger gained in more ways than one for The Dacia Sandriders in Spain today, taking the Stage 3 win to move up to fourth overall on Rally-Raid Portugal, the penultimate round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.
It was the perfect comeback for Loeb and Boulanger after they were delayed on Thursday with suspension damage as they chased a rapid stage time aboard their sustainable-fuel Dacia Sandrider.
Today’s stage-winning performance came despite the #219 Dacia Sandrider being caught up in the dust of a rival driver and having to stop to change a damaged tyre 30 kilometres from the finish, caused by hitting a rock through a lack of visibility.
Ninth at the overnight halt in Badajoz, the French pairing will begin the charge back to Portugal tomorrow (Saturday) in fourth position but facing the added challenge of opening the road for the chasing pack.
While the event’s full day across the border in neighbouring Spain culminated in a 10th FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) stage win for The Dacia Sandriders since its debut on Rallye du Maroc last October, there was frustration for Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin.
Bidding for back-to-back Rally-Raid Portugal victories in his efforts to strengthen his advantage at the top of the W2RC standings, Al-Attiyah dropped more ground to the leaders having got stuck for several minutes on Thursday.
Fastest to reach 35 kilometres this morning, Al-Attiyah’s hopes of emulating his Prologue win on Tuesday faded when he began to lose time with a brake issue, which hampered him throughout the day and left him in 9th position with two days left.
After heroically stopping twice to assist their team-mates on Thursday, Spaniards Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno climbed from 12th to seventh in the overall standings having also experienced problems with the brakes on their Dacia Sandrider.
There’s no respite on Rally-Raid Portugal with the event crossing back into Portugal tomorrow ahead of the overnight halt in the capital Lisbon, from where Sunday’s deciding stage starts and finishes.
KEY QUOTES
NASSER AL-ATTIYAH (QATAR), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « It was a good start but after 28 kilometres we lose completely the brakes and we don’t have any brakes until the finish. We try to manage but we know we were losing time. The good thing is we are here and now we decide what we do for the next two days. I am losing a lot of points for the championship, this is not easy, but we see and decide what we need to do for tomorrow because tomorrow is very important also. »
CRISTINA GUTIÉRREZ (SPAIN), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « In the beginning of the stage we feel very good with the car and with the changes we did yesterday. It was feeling good until the stop we had because of a fire on the stage. After this we had problems with the front-left brake caliper and we need to manage all the time because the braking was very difficult. We also lost the front-right caliper so we only had braking at the rear.
« We were surviving a bit. The heat does not help the calipers and with the temperature of the brakes. But we will manage. Tomorrow is the fourth stage and we will try to do our best as always. »
SÉBASTIEN LOEB (FRANCE), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « It was a good day today, finally. I had a good stage, I struggled a bit in the beginning in the dust of [Jourdan] Serderidis. After he finally let us pass and from that point we had a very good stage, a very good rhythm until close to the end. A puncture 30 kilometres from the end, we had to change the wheel. We are a bit disappointed, I was thinking I would lose the victory of the stage for that but, in the end, it was still the best time. The car was great and everything worked well.
« For sure it’s not over yet but the gap is quite big, we lost 14 minutes yesterday and we are still 11 minutes from the lead so the gap is big. But every day something happens, it’s very difficult, very tricky, narrow, fast, so we have to keep concentrated and see what happens. »
ÉDOUARD BOULANGER (FRANCE), NAVIGATOR, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « Today was quite a good day, we had a decent pace all day long, we just suffered a bit from the dust of other cars because we were overtaking four cars. In the final section we had a puncture because we basically didn’t see a rock in the dust. It was not the perfect stage but we won, it was our first victory together and, of course, this makes us happy, we needed it. Clearly the feeling is really good but it’s still not the perfect day and hopefully it will arrive soon. We know we are able to win but it’s something different to know it and to make it so, of course, it’s a really nice feeling. I hope it’s not only the first one. »
RALLY-RAID PORTUGAL STAGE 3 (SS4) ULTIMATE CATEGORY RESULTS (UNOFFICIAL) – Badajoz-Badajoz
Stage distance: 308.26km Liaison distance: 203km Total distance: 511.26km
1st: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 3h06m08s
8th: Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP), 3h12m58s
20th: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), 3m21m56s
RALLY-RAID PORTUGAL PROVISIONAL ULTIMATE CATEGORY OVERALL RESULTS AFTER STAGE 3 (UNOFFICIAL)
4th: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), +11m24s
7th: Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP), +21m09s
9th: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), +27m45s
RALLY-RAID PORTUGAL: THE BIG NUMBER
10: Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger’s charging stage win today combined with Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin’s fastest Prologue time on Tuesday means The Dacia Sandriders has claimed 10 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship stage wins since its debut on Rallye du Maroc last October.
THE DAY AHEAD: STAGE 4 (SS5), SEPTEMBER 27
From Spain the event heads back to Portugal – and the capital Lisbon – on Saturday September 27 with a route consisting of 528 kilometres of which 274km are against the clock. According to the event organisers, the route in Spain « mixes fast sections with good terrain and slower, narrower sections ». Once back in Portugal, the stage terrain is similar but is expected to be faster in places. The waiting bivouac in Doca de Pedrouços, to the west of Lisbon, is located on the vast estuary of the River Tagus.
Stage distance: 274km Liaison distance: 254km Total distance: 528km