Sébastien Loeb and his co-pilot Fabian Lurquin have been at a halt after 132 km for around twenty minutes.
The Prodrive crew are having mechanical problems and appear to have requested their team to come and assist them. However, their assistance truck has not yet reached the start of the special, so they may have a long wait ahead of them.
At the intermediate point located after 139 km, only a few kilometres from where Sébastien Loeb has stopped, Carlos Sainz produced the fastest time with a lead of 2’ over his team-mate Stéphane Peterhansel and 2’03’’ over Mathieu Serradori. ‘El Matador’ is taking advantage of Sébastien Loeb’s setback to give himself a clear lead in the general rankings.
Sébastien Loeb stopped at 132 km due to broken front right A-arm. The Frenchman is reported to have asked his assistance to pick him up and exit the special. He will be able to take starter’s orders tomorrow, but the fight for overall victory is over.
After stopping for more than an hour, Sébastien Loeb has resumed the special on the way to Yanbu. The Frenchman is not giving up and a place on the final podium is still possible. After 138 km, he is third in the virtual general rankings with a lead of just 8’’ over Guillaume de Mevius.
According to the Bahrain Raid Extreme team, Sébastian Loeb damaged his suspension following a brutal landing after a jump, but managed to repair the broken part thanks to the help of the YunXiang China T1+ team’s Hunter crew.
