Carlos Sainz’ worst fears have come true. Despite showing promise during the Rally of Morocco while driving the Ford M-Sport Raptor T1+, he and his co-driver Lucas Cruz are currently out of the Dakar.
Dakar is the Mecca of off-road racing; that term particularly apt as the race is currently taking place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. All preparations throughout the year go into racing and winning here, something that Sainz has had experience with, having won it a total of four times, including just last year. It is absolutely heartbreaking then that the defending champion has had his title defense stopped short.
Around kilometer 327 of the crucial 48-hour marathon of Stage 2 on Sunday, the Spaniard was navigating a dune, when his Ford Raptor T1+ rolled over and landed on its roof.
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Sainz’ teammate in the Ford M-Sport team, Mitch Guthrie Jr., stopped and helped the 62-year-old flip the car back onto its wheels. Sainz was only 3min27sec behind the leader, Toyota’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi when the crash occurred.
While Sainz and Cruz were able to return the car to the bivouac, upon further examination by the FIA, damage was found in the structure of the vehicle’s roll cage. While Sainz mentioned in an emotional Instagram post that the Ford M-Sport team would easily have been able to repair the damage to the part, FIA regulations state that no repairs may be done to the roll cage, as an improper repair would mean a repeat accident could result in catastrophic damage if the cage is compromised in any way.
Ford M-Sport teammate, Mattias Ekstrom, currently in fifth, is the only Ford M-Sport driver in contention, as their teammate Nani Roma suffered engine problems, although the latter will still be able to start Stage 3 of the grueling rally.
