After Carlos Sainz abandoned the 2023 Dakar Rally and arrived at the Harad Bivouac, his mechanics and engineers witnessed irreparable damage to the carbon fiber monocoque chassis of his Audi RS Q e-Tron. Audi quoted Spanish press who were in Harad at around 9pm (7pm Spanish time). So in the tent where the mechanic had fixed the car, there was no sign of the vehicle this time. It was then that the chief of communications and the pilot broke the news of the abandonment. Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz revealed they were fine, and the Spaniard underscored the bad luck he had in that clash, as it was “two meters to the left and no holes”.

Carlos and Lucas traveled to their respective homes this Wednesday and the Spaniard said his already traditional “period of reflection and recovery” now begins, and what Audi is doing to improve ahead of Dakar 2024. Evaluate all you have to do and hope in order. The FIA ​​will do its job and create fairer rules between premier class cars so that Audi doesn’t get hurt so much by its greater weight (100kg more than the rest). He said he wanted to thank the Spanish journalist for his work and coverage in difficult circumstances.

physical state

“Okay, I’m fine. After this second hard landing, my body hurts. I had a few days of jolts, but this is normal. If you hit yourself twice like this, this is It’s about 27 G’s and it hits hard.At first it hurt a lot where it hurt, but gradually the pain went away and now it’s better.”

On social networks they appreciate the act of returning to the helicopter

“It’s not a feat. And I say it with all love and gratitude. The situation remained as it was. It hurt me, the doctor told him to wait a bit to see if it goes away.” The truth is that he was very loving and insisted that from his point of view we should go to the hospital. Eventually he insisted and I said, “If the doctor says you have to go to the hospital, go.” I was unable to get into the coordinates of the , so I had to land. A helicopter landed there and I turned around and said to him. And I feel better tonight, less pain…but no more. And that’s what we did. A mechanic arrived with the repairs done, but when I got here the car was beyond repair. Honestly, I’m not giving it any value. ”

Cruel final after many years of work in the car

“At the end of the day, it’s a disappointment for Lucas, me, Stéphane (Peterhansel) and Edouard (Peterhanser’s co-driver Boulaner, who crashed in stage 6) and I’m disappointed because I had surgery today. Matthias (Ekström) is still in the race, but with no choice, everything seems to have gone smoothly.The whole Audi team was very excited and enthusiastic.A little about Volkswagen’s early days[in Dakar]. I remember it was very difficult in the beginning and then everything followed hopefully to win this race with such a difficult car, with such a complex task of trying to win with this car, I hope that I will have the opportunity to fight in the future.”

If the car had been fixed I would have continued

“Yes, we kept the desire to keep learning, to know the ‘Empty Quarter’ a little bit better and try to win stages. That’s what we were trying to do.”

I wanted to take advantage of this stage to improve the shock absorber.

“Yes. Actually today Matthias (Ekström) tried a different set of shock absorbers and it seemed to work better. Fighting for something important If you dare to do it during the race under normal conditions, it will also help you do important tests and trials.

Are you even more hungry next year?

“I always say that once the Dakar is over, a period of personal reflection begins, where you have to analyze a little bit how everything went. I always say the same thing. Now my period of reflection begins and I go home and think about recovering from these weeks that are absolutely necessary after the Dakar, and especially if it’s been a little bumpy like this time. We have time to see what Audi wants to do and what plans it has, for the future we have time to decide. , you have a year, but it’s true that you only get one chance a year and time passes.

upgrade your car

“In this period of reflection, there is also talk of analyzing the data and seeing what worked well and what was lacking… but it’s not just Audi that should analyze others. I honestly believe there are a lot of things, and there are a lot of things to analyze when it comes to balancing parties and their performances.”

they leave this wednesday

“I’m going home tomorrow.”

positive point

“We started the rally very well. No one in the team expected it, so the broken patella was unexpected for us and it was a little confusing…it was a bit confusing because we were leading the race. , it happened when we were leading that stage and gaining time on Nasser at that stage.That’s what really hated us.But I think we had a good pace yesterday. Like, we could have won one more stage if it weren’t for the speed limit problem, I think we’re doing well, but things weren’t with us and weren’t what we wanted And since that day we have had to go there…The Dakar is a race won by defending more than attacking.

cut dunes

“There are endless dunes. I passed 70,000 during the rally and today I clearly misjudged the speed. It wasn’t two meters, but it was two meters to the right, and that’s my fault, no one else’s.”