Carlos Sainz knew that things would happen in this second ordeal stage in the Dakar Rally, but like all the participants he was confident that he would be saved from the expected mess. An accident at kilometer 327 of the 958 planned in the 48-hour stage, when he was making his way through the dunes of Saudi Arabia, caused him to lose a good minute and a large part of his chances of retaining the crown of the event. The problem is not the almost 50 minutes that he now lost in the general classification with respect to the virtual leader of the race, the Saudi Yazeed Al-Rhaji, but the notable damage that his Ford Raptor T1+ suffered after the crash.
“Evidently, the situation is far from ideal. We overturned on a dune and the vehicle took quite a hit. Us too,” commented Sainz upon reaching the penultimate night camp planned by the organization (km. 626), where the majority of the favorites for victory gathered after a real beating in the middle of the desert. With the stopwatch frozen, the participants will spend the night in a tent, eat military rations and will resume their march when dawn breaks this Monday in Arabian lands. And most importantly: only they, without help from mechanics or other people, will be able to work to repair their vehicles throughout the night.
In the case of Sainz and his co-pilot Lucas Cruz, the outlook is bleak. They saved the ballot by flipping their car again thanks to the push of Mitch Guthrie, one of their teammates, with a rope. Then they dedicated themselves to stripping the rear of their vehicle, tearing off the pieces of carbon fiber destroyed by the impact with their hands. They stood on the sand for more than 20 minutes, and after resuming their march, the Barcelona sailor had to complete the rest of the kilometers holding on to the broken door. A stop to cool the radiator, another to remove the fragmented windshield, a confusion and a puncture added to the minute. Part of the loss was suffered by the difficult mission of opening a path after losing the chess game of strategy in the first stage. Seeing yourself in front of the peloton without the traces of the motorcycles, a novelty of this Dakar that premiered precisely this Sunday, probably greatly complicated the navigation tasks towards the crash.
“It appears that, from what we have seen, there is no structural damage to the car. Carlos has been running at a reasonable pace after the accident,” said Matthew Wilson, Ford M-Sport team manager. “The hour we have lost in the second stage of Dakar may seem like a lot, but there is a long road ahead,” he added. The key now for the American manufacturer’s banner will be to be able to take the vehicle to the finish line located in Bisha this Monday and to be able to carry out in-depth repairs with the group’s engineers and mechanics to continue the competition with maximum guarantees.
The setback for Sainz was not the only one among the group of favorites. Sébastien Loeb had electrical problems and also gave up half an hour after the demanding day. Al Rajhi, the first to reach the night camp after the honk at the end of the day, took almost seven hours to complete the 628 kilometers traveled. The Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia), provisionally second overall, and Nani Roma (Ford), were two of the favorites who did smile a lot on the day. The Catalan driver, who became the virtual leader in some sections, ended up giving up 18 minutes in the camping area, but remains among the candidates for victory for now. Cristina Gutiérrez (Dacia) gave up more than an hour to help her teammate Loeb during the special.
In the motorcycle category, the day left images of camaraderie and navigation in the peloton, a situation that once again benefited the Austrian Daniel Sanders (KTM), who remains in front of the general classification. The virtual leader completed the grueling day in 7h41m56s, and the best on two wheels also reached the penultimate camp scheduled for the Dakar. The Valencian Tosha Schareina (Honda) was fourth at the cut-off point and continues to maintain his chances of everything in a race as tough as had been announced. Edgar Canet (KTM) and Lorenzo Santolino (Sherco), the other two outstanding Spaniards, overcame this first part of the challenge with flying colors and remain in the fight for the top ten positions in the classification.
