WRC Rally Kenya
Loeb explains battery problem that caused WRC Safari Rally exit
Sebastien Loeb says a depleted battery following a small engine fire ultimately ended his Safari Rally Kenya victory bid just five kilometres from reaching the World Rally Championship service park.
Tom Howard
Edited: Jun 24, 2022, 4:28 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The nine-time world champion had rejoined M-Sport for the famous WRC event, 20 years on from his Safari Rally debut in 2002, to make his third start of the 2022 WRC campaign.
After ending Thursday’s opening stage in fifth, Loeb started Friday by winning Stage 2 and went on to complete the morning loop of challenging gravel stages in fifth overall, 15.9s adrift of rally leader Elfyn Evans.
However, once the 48-year-old completed Stage 4 the engine on his hybrid Rally1 Ford Puma cut out, before a small fire broke out in the engine bay that co-driver Isabelle Galmiche promptly extinguished.
With the engine out of action, Loeb engaged electric power to navigate the road section back to the service park, but ran out of battery power and was forced to pull over five kilometres shy of service.
Loeb said there was no warning of the engine issue before it struck.
“We were going normally, we went to the stop control and the engine stopped,” Loeb told Motorsport.com. “We tried to restart and it didn’t restart, and there was smoke coming out of the bonnet. I opened it and there was a little fire.
“We then used electric mode and we did 10kms. We had no battery any more and the car stopped 5km from service.”
Loeb remarked that he was “happy” with the start to his event and was “in the rhythm of the other drivers”.
“The pace was good and I tried to take it easy, I understood it was going to be a tough rally,” he added.
“[Our rally] has been too short. It has been a lot of work for not a lot of driving, so it is frustrating.”
It is unclear if Loeb will rejoin the rally on Saturday under restart rules.
Loeb’s exit was one of two retirements for M-Sport on Friday, as Adrien Fourmaux was forced out of the rally due to a mechanical issue on Stage 5. The Frenchman had been sitting seventh after solid start.
As a result, Craig Breen is leading M-Sport’s charge in sixth after team-mate Gus Greensmith ran as high as fourth, before a right rear puncture dropped the Briton more than 13 minutes adrift.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article WRC Safari Rally: Evans grabs lead, Loeb retires with engine fire
Next article WRC Safari Rally: Rovanpera leads, punctures delay Ogier and Evans
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Tom Howard
Josh McErlean to test 2027-spec M-Sport WRC car at ERC finale
WRC
WRC
Josh McErlean to test 2027-spec M-Sport WRC car at ERC finale
Jon Armstrong announces WRC co-driver split for 2027
WRC
WRC
Jon Armstrong announces WRC co-driver split for 2027
More from
Sébastien Loeb
Sebastien Loeb tests new Project Rally One 2027 WRC car
WRC
WRC
Rally Italy
Sebastien Loeb tests new Project Rally One 2027 WRC car
Sebastien Loeb to make traditional stage rallying return
WRC
WRC
Sebastien Loeb to make traditional stage rallying return
Sebastien Loeb after 13 Dakar punctures: Cars now extremely robust, tyres the weak link
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Sebastien Loeb after 13 Dakar punctures: Cars now extremely robust, tyres the weak link
More from
M-Sport
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
WRC
WRC
M-Sport’s 2027 WRC Fiesta Kit car breaks cover
Ford to make factory WRC return in 2028
WRC
WRC
Rally Italy
Ford to make factory WRC return in 2028
Latest news
Lamborghini | Barcelona selected to host the 2027 Super Trofeo World Finals
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo
World Finals - Monza 2026
21 min
Lamborghini | Barcelona selected to host the 2027 Super Trofeo World Finals
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - FP3 begins
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
41 min
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - FP3 begins
Lamborghini World Finals | AM-LC Race 1: An unstoppable Lewandowski dominates to win Race 1
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
LBST Lamborghini Super Trofeo
World Finals - Monza 2026
3 h
Lamborghini World Finals | AM-LC Race 1: An unstoppable Lewandowski dominates to win Race 1
Why Cadillac F1 boss provoked fresh intrigue by dodging driver question
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
4 h
Why Cadillac F1 boss provoked fresh intrigue by dodging driver question
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe