Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz are out from Dakar 2015 rally, after a terrible crash 20 kilometers before the finish of stage 5 in Chile. El Matador was picked up by medical helicopter to the hospital, but without serious injuries.
In the official Peugeot Sport twitter account the information is that „Carlos Sainz & Lucas Cruz retired but both ok. Following a quad in dust, they hit something & rolled 5 times. More information later“. Carlos Sainz also posted a tweet with picture of the smashed Peugeot 2008 DKR. He explains that the car hit big stone on the road in the dust.
El Matador’s retirement was just one day after he suffered turbo pressure problems on his Peugeot 2008 DKR early in stage 4. The problem cost him more than 9 hours, and after stucking in the dunes in the evening, he arrived in the bivouac at 3:30 in the morning.
This is the third failure of the Spaniard in three consecutive editions of the Dakar Rally. Last year, Carlos Sainz crashed ridiculous with his SMG buggy in connecting section of the 10th stage. In 2013, again with buggy, El Matador ended his participation on the sixth day, because the engine failed.
Now, everyone is looking at the performance of the 11-time winner of the Dakar, Stéphane Peterhansel. The Frenchman finished the stage fifth and moved in the overall standings at 9th place. As for the third Peugeot 2008 DKR driver – Cyril Despres, he also has a series of problems in the last two sections of the Dakar 2015.
