Nine-times world rally champion Sebastien Loeb is out of the Dakar Rally after he rolled his Dacia in the Saudi desert on Tuesday as the race continued to take a toll of the big names after the exit of 2024 winner Carlos Sainz.

2025 Dakar Stage 3 saw another leading player roll his race machine. You can read about and watch Sebastien Loeb’s accident at this link. The FIA deemed that the Frenchman’s Dacia Sandrider sustained too much damage to continue. As a result, Loeb was forced to retire ahead of 2025 Dakar Stage 4.

Stage 4 of the 2025 Dakar Rally sees KTM win another stage while Dacia's Loeb was asked to retire after an unfit car.

Sebastien Loeb struggled to complete Stage 3 of the Dakar Rally on Tuesday after rolling his car near the start, a setback that is likely to cost him his dream of a first title in the event. The nine-time World Rally Champion went off the road 12 kilometres into the 327-stage between Bisha and Al Henakiyah.

He was forced to pull out of the race for a third time and follows defending champion Carlos Sainz, who crashed the previous day. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Nineteen-year-old Saood Variawa of South Africa became the youngest top-class driver to win a stage in the Dakar Rally

Lithuanian driver Rokas Baciuška has proved he’s a contender in the Dakar Rally after winning the longest stage in the Saudi Arabia desert.

Local driver Yazeed Al Rajhi stormed back into the Dakar Rally's leading threesome when he dominated the fourth stage in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Al Rajhi started 18th in Al Henakiyah and was in front by the first time check in volcanic terrain and never headed on the 415-kilometer (258-mile) course north through canyons to AlUla.