The Albany Gazette - Dakar Rally champion Sainz pulls out after Baciuska wins marathon stage

Four-time winner Sainz raised the white flag of surrender in the Saudi Arabian desert after limping in third, his Ford Raptor in no fit state to continue after being flipped on its head the day before.

The 62-year-old Sainz and his co-driver had tried in vain to repair their stricken car overnight at the midway point of the '48-hour Chrono.

And after limping in third 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," organisers added.

After Monday's 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 Sainz, one of the favourites for the 2025 crown, departed the scene organisers had initially named Saudi driver Yazeed al-Rajhi as the stage two winner, but later announced that Baciuska, in an Overdrive, had recuperated 12 minutes that propelled him from fifth to first.

The Lithuanian was timed at 10hr 54min 11sec over the 967km special, 2min 43sec ahead of Rajhi.

"It was really, really hard. I feel like this is our 10th day on the Dakar," said Rajhi on his arrival at the bivouac of the rally, which began on Friday.

"You needed a rocket, not a car to pass through them. It wasn't easy."

For this long stage, which started on Sunday, the competitors had to bivouac in the desert and did not benefit from the assistance of their teams at the night stop.

Nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, who is still looking for his first Dakar victory, was half an hour behind at the camp on Sunday evening, after a fan problem caused his engine to overheat.

But the Frenchman had a better Monday, making up much of the deficit to finish seventh, 15min 51sec behind the leader.

South African Henk Lategan tops the overall standings, 4min 45sec ahead of Rajhi with Qatar's five-time winner Nasser al-Attiyah in third. Loeb is sixth, 18min 56sec off the lead.

"If you don't look after the car, it won't look after you. It’s actually a big surprise to be first because we haven't been really focusing on it. But I'm happy with that."

- Third win for Sanders -

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 took victory on his KTM in a time of 11hr 12min 13sec, 6min 45sec ahead of Frenchman Adrien van Beveren (Honda) with American Skyler Howes (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.

Botswana's Ross Branch (Hero) lies third, 4sec behind the American.

(P.Davis--TAG)