Jackie Loomans, an entrepreneur who raced rallies that included the Dakar Rally and Africa Eco Race, passed away Saturday night at the age of 71. He had been battling lung and bone cancer for the past five years, which forced him to sell his Loomans Group plastics manufacturing company.
Loomans entered the Paris–Dakar Rally for the first time in 1987, a few years after surviving a brain hemorrhage, racing a Metro 6R4 with Loomans Group backing. He was one of the final drivers to pilot a Porsche in the Dakar when he drove a Porsche 964 in 1994. Two years later, he brought abord Koen Wauters as his navigator, triggering a lifelong friendship. Other co-drivers Loomans has had at Dakar include Olympic medal-winning judoka Gella Vandecaveye and motocross racer Joël Smets, racing vehicles that ranged from Land Rovers to Bowlers and G-Wagens.
He continued to race the Dakar until the final edition from Europe to Africa in 2007, followed by entering the Africa Eco Race, which took up the original Dakar route; the AER’s co-founder René Metge, who won the Dakar Rally thrice and raced a Porsche as well, died last Wednesday. He also raced in other African rallies like the Morocco Desert Challenge.
His passing occurred on the same day Wauters won the fifth leg of the Africa Eco Race, the first stage victory of his rally career. Loomans had kept in touch with Wauters’ Feryn Dakar Sport team prior to the AER, sending what co-owner Pascal Feryn called “several messages wishing us luck.” Feryn is racing a Toyota Land Cruiser that he purchased from Loomans.
“He showed me the way in the desert,” said Wauters about Loomans. “He brought so much joy to my life and gave me the Dakar virus. From that moment, I knew I would do this more often. We knew he was sick. He fought for a very long time. But in the end, he lost the battle. We bought his car last year, which we are driving now. He passed away on the day I won my first stage. It doesn’t get much more symbolic than that.”