Dakar Rally champion Carlos Sainz pulls out after Rokas Baciuska wins marathon stage
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Spanish driver Carlos Sainz steers his car assisted by co-driver Lucas Cruz during Stage 2B of the 47th Dakar Rally.
PHOTO: AFP
BISHA – Carlos Sainz Sr’s Dakar Rally title defence ended prematurely on Jan 6, when the Spaniard was forced to pull out after the marathon 48-hour stage won by Lithuanian driver Rokas Baciuska.
Four-time winner Sainz raised the white flag of surrender in the Saudi Arabian desert after limping in Stage 2, his Ford Raptor in no fit state to continue after being flipped on its head the day before.
The 62-year-old and his co-driver had tried in vain to repair their car overnight at the midway point of the 48-hour Chrono.
A post-stage inspection by his team M-Ford deemed the vehicle unfit to continue.
“Damage to the safety bar means he has to quit the Dakar,” organisers confirmed.
“It’s the end of the adventure for four-time Dakar winner and defending champion Carlos Sainz and his co-driver Lucas Cruz. Goodbye King Carlos.”
After the Jan 6 rollover, Sainz, who had dropped to 26th in the standings, stated: “It wasn’t ideal. We rolled over in the dunes.
“The car is a little shaken, and so are we.”
As he departed the scene, organisers had initially named Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi as the Stage 2 winner, but later announced that Baciuska, in an Overdrive, had recovered 12 minutes that propelled him from fifth to first.
The Lithuanian clocked 10hr 54min 11sec over the 967km special, 2min 43sec ahead of Al-Rajhi.
South African Henk Lategan tops the overall standings, 4min 45sec ahead of Al-Rajhi, with Qatar’s five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah in third.
Australian Daniel Sanders continues to dominate on the bikes, his victory in their 48-hour Chrono making it three in a row after he also won the prologue and first stage.
It is the first time any rider has taken the first three stages since Spaniard Joan Barreda in 2017 between Bolivia and Argentina.
“It wasn’t too bad, pretty hard in the soft dunes, it was very tough for a lot of us,” said Sanders.
“When opening, you didn’t know if it was going to be a soft dune or a hard dune.
“It was pretty tough. The dust kind of ruined it a lot.
“Everyone was bunched up fighting in the dust for the opening bonuses. It was a bit tough on that side.”
Sanders won on his KTM in 11hr 12min 13sec, 6min 45sec ahead of American Skyler Howes (Honda) with Spain’s Tosha Schareina (Honda) in third.
Sanders, who is aiming to become the second Australian to win the Dakar on a bike after Toby Price, holds a 12min 36sec lead over Howes in the provisional overall standings. AFP
