Sainz Sr. down but not out after early Dakar drama

Carlos Sainz Sr’s bid to add a fifth Dakar triumph to his outstanding tally of wins suffered a big setback last weekend.

In the second day of this year’s legendary off-road event, which included a grueling 947 km chrono stage spread over 48 hours, Sainz rolled his Ford Raptor at the 325 km mark.

While the Spaniard’s car was severely damaged and left Sainz and co-pilot Lucas Cruz stranded in the Saudi desert, the pair was able to set off again after receiving assistance from their teammate Mitch Guthrie Jr.

Sainz was able to join Bivouac E in 25th place, almost an hour adrift from pace setter Yazeed Al-Rajhi of Overdrive Toyota, where Ford’s crew undertook the necessary repairs to allow the Raptor to resume its efforts on Monday morning in the second half of Stage 2.

“Today has been quite a complicated stage,” Sainz said on Sunday evening.

“After rolling over on a cut dune, we were able to continue thanks to the help of our team-mate Mitchell, but then we had more problems.

“The car was overheating, we couldn't see well because of the broken glass and we punctured. The day went from bad to worse.”

Still, El Matador survived to fight another day.