Problems for Sainz: he does not start stage 2 in Morocco

Carlos Sainz He clarified this in an interview with MD with its premiere Ford Raptor T1+ in Morocco Rally This is more of a pure test than a race. The priority is to know the performance of his car and solve any possible problems that arise in the race to understand them and understand how to prevent them from reappearing where it really matters: in Dakar.

The oval’s signature car is the only one completely new and designed for victory from 2025 after the first year of the Americans’ training in a new event for them like the Dakar.

The Raptor T1+ was previously released with nani in Hungarya quote that, however, does not meet the characteristics and conditions that make the Morocco Rally It is considered the prelude to the Dakar, with a more representative terrain, the perfect laboratory to test the cars and improve them for the Dakar.

Therefore, the decision made by Ford and Carlos Sainz this Tuesday morning is more understandable: they did not come out to compete in stage 2 due to a mechanical problem.

“Unfortunately, we found a problem with the data this morning. The team decided to keep a close eye on everything and not risk breaking anything in this stage of the rally. They are doing it. I hope to continue tomorrow and Put more kilometers in the car Yesterday was a good day, positive overall”, Sainz told the test organization.

Carlos Sainz is not competing for the Raid World Cup and is competing outside the classification. His sole purpose in Morocco was to test his car and polish it for the Dakar. Therefore, after Ford identified a mechanical problem with the Raptor T1+ of Carlos and his co-driver Lucas Cruz, the team and ‘El Matador’ decided to prioritize understanding the problem and solving it on the day of Tuesday, without appearing to compete in stage 2. That will not prevent him from rejoining the race in stage 3 this Wednesday, which is far from the best in terms of times, but with a clear conclusion about the mechanical retreat so it doesn’t happen again in Dakar.

Sainz and Roma are warning

In fact, Carlos Sainz has already targeted MD with Nani Roma In the run-up to the race, there are bound to be failures that don’t show up in the tests and the important thing is that the car has a rhythm and knows how to solve it. He also emphasized that one should not be carried away with the final result to draw conclusions for Dakar.

“It’s true that last year the Morocco Rally for us at Audi was a disaster and if you ask us after that test the morale is low. And then we won the Dakar! I mean yes for anything here in Morocco we are not doing well and have problems, That does not mean that the Dakar is considered lost, because the important thing is to see how competitive we are. There will certainly be problems that will arise, but the important thing is to see where we are.”he said next to a Nani Roma who nodded and repeated this idea.

In previous tests conducted in Morocco, some were included 16,000 kilometer touring all kinds of terrain, Carlos and Nani Roma They emphasized to this newspaper that they suffered no serious problems and that the car was not born with any design or structural defects that limited its development. That’s the key. From here, it was necessary to see how competitive the car was, and both Sainz and Ekström in Morocco. And at the same time, fix any mechanical problems that may arise with the main goal of ensuring that they do not arise in the Dakar.

To those ends, Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz He will take to the track again this Wednesday in stage 3, to continue testing his Raptor in extreme conditions and at top speed.