Sainz still in contention for 2025 Dakar win despite rollover – Ford

Ford insists Carlos Sainz Sr nonetheless has all to play for within the 2025 Dakar Rally regardless of dropping heaps of time in a crash through the 48-hour chrono stage on Sunday.

Having simply crossed the seventh checkpoint on the 325km mark, Sainz’s Ford Raptor flipped over and landed on its roof over sand, leaving him stranded within the Saudi desert.

His team-mate Mitch Guthrie Jr arrived on the scene quickly after to offer help, with the American supplying a rope that helped Sainz to get all 4 wheels of the automobile again on the bottom.

The rear of the Raptor sustained extreme injury within the incident and the Spaniard needed to take away main chunks of bodywork earlier than setting off as soon as once more.

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The four-time Dakar winner misplaced over 20 minutes within the stoppage and ultimately introduced his hobbled automobile to Bivouac E in twenty fifth place, nearly an hour down on pacesetter Yazeed Al-Rajhi of Overdrive Toyota.

He sits twenty second within the total classification, dealing with a deficit of 49m33s forward of the second a part of Stage 2 on Monday.

Malcolm Wilson, crew director of M-Sport Ford, revealed the reason for the accident and supplied an in depth account of the state of the automobile following the stoppage.

“Carlos, sadly, had an issue at round kilometre 327,” he defined. “At that time, he was in first or second place, we’re undecided, so he was opening up the observe.

‘He was on a dune they usually landed the wrong way up, with the roof of the automobile on the bottom. Mitch managed to assist him, after which he stopped for some time to clearly transfer some broken elements and that kind of factor.

#225 Ford M-Sport Ford: Carlos Sainz, Lucas Cruz

Photograph by: A.S.O.

“It seems to be like, from what we have seen, there is no structural injury. It has been working at an inexpensive tempo, flat out after the accident.

“[All Ford cars] will likely be collectively and hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to implement repairs. Then, an important factor is to deliver him again tomorrow, and from what appears to have been misplaced, it is perhaps round an hour, which on the second stage of the Dakar is loads, however there is a lengthy technique to go.”

The incident occurred shortly after Sainz had crossed a dune round Bisha in Saudi Arabia, though his automobile landed on comparatively flat and sandy terrain.

The 62-year-old was unfortunate that the crash passed off through the marathon stage, the place exterior help from crews is restricted.

The Ford’s windshield was damaged on co-driver Lucas Cruz’ aspect, with Cruz having to carry his door shut over 291 kilometres through the the rest of the day.

Helped by different Ford runners, Sainz is now making certain the automobile is in adequate form earlier than finishing the second a part of Stage 2 on Monday morning; the engine, suspensions, gearbox and chassis are reported to be undamaged.

“At present has been fairly an advanced stage,” Sainz mentioned. “After rolling over on a lower dune, we had been capable of proceed due to the assistance of our team-mate Mitchell, however then we had extra issues: the automobile was overheating, we could not see nicely due to the damaged glass and we punctured. The day went from unhealthy to worse.”

#226 Ford M-Sport Ford: Mattias Ekstrom, Emil Bergkvist

Photograph by: Purple Bull Content material Pool

Regardless of Sainz’s troubles, Ford remains to be trying aggressive on its full manufacturing facility debut in Dakar, with Mattias Ekstrom holding fourth place within the basic standings and Nani Roma working in seventh place.

“Nani [Roma] went very nicely, at one level he and Mattias had been very shut,” Wilson added. “It appears that evidently in the direction of the top, earlier than everybody stopped on the service space, he misplaced a little bit of time in every sector.

“Possibly he is had two knocks and brought precautions, so, if that is the case, hopefully he can restore the tyres tonight and be in higher form for tomorrow. Let’s have a look at once we hear from him, he is had one other robust day and he isn’t that far off the leaders.”