Carlos Sainz resigns: “We couldn’t find that ‘passing point’ and we knew this step was an important one.”

Carlos Sainz He had an unforgettable marathon stage finish. The Spaniard had a lot of navigation problems, finishing 25 minutes behind Nasser Al Attiyah, and was penalized for skipping a 15-foot waypoint, which meant he was penalized for 40th place with three stages remaining, effectively losing all options to Touraig.

It all started with me skipping a checkpoint because it was very difficult to find it, which is why I got penalized later and everything became even more complicated. Sainz knows his rally is over now.

“That was a difficult point. We drove there and saw a lot of cars. I couldn’t catch it and in the end decided to keep trying up and down, back and forth.. We didn’t have the capacity. “Maybe Lucas can explain it better,” he said upon arriving at camp.

”We already knew this was going to be a very important step.and. Last year we finished 8th in the 48-hour race, we got the result right after the start and for us the rally ended there. The problem is, yesterday, others were lost too. We also missed something, The tactic of retreating further was not possible.”.

It’s not the roadbook’s fault.

Despite it being the cause of all the headaches, Sainz doesn’t think the points in the roadbook, the guide that drivers must follow, were improperly marked.

“No, I don’t think it’s a problem. When you have a point in the dunes, you have to keep your margin. We’ve all been on that trail in one way or another when we’ve had to reach the halfway point. It was obvious that the person who opened it had made a mistake.” concluded the resigned Spaniard.