Sainz gives reason for his ‘bad’ result: “We’ve stopped”

Once we went to see the results of stage 5 of the Dakar rally and we saw that Carlos Sainz finished 28th, nine minutes behind the winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah, we can imagine that this is a bad day for ‘El Matador’. However, context changes everything. This Thursday begins the 626km super marathon stage which must be completed in two days in ‘Empty Quarter’. Entering the sea of ​​sand in the first positions almost certainly meant giving up the ground and many favorites chose to slow their pace and start at the back. Among them, Carlos Sainz.

The Spaniard lost second place overall after the fifth stage in favor of Al-Attiyah while the leader, Al-Rajhi, was 11 minutes and 31 seconds behind. However, his two rivals start in the first two positions while the Audi driver will start with some clues ahead that can show him the way.

“We have decided not to go fast and stop there at the end. Let’s see if the strategy is good tomorrow. But let’s see. The stage went well. Our strategy is that if they come in, we stop for three minutes, and that’s what we did,” he explained upon reaching the finish line.

Audi, all in one

Despite the different situations, all Audis chose not to push to stage 5 and have more options for the super marathon. Peterhansel himself starts behind Sainz, in 30th position.

“It’s a bit of a strange stage, because it only has 118 kilometers, but it’s important for tomorrow’s starting order, where we will face two days of sand without tracks for motorcycles. For me, starting at the front is It wasn’t a good idea, so we decided to slow down and stop five minutes before the finish line. I don’t think anyone knew what the right approach was. We are not a good example, because from the beginning of the rally we followed the opposite strategy of otherslet’s see,” explained ‘Monsieur Dakar’.