Controversial points in road book infuriate Sainz and Roma: Ford can complain as signage may be inadequate

Carlos Sainz he said goodbye to the victory of Dakar 2026 Due to a 45 minute loss on stage 10, Nani Romathe Catalans took third place in 12 minutes and 50 seconds, leaving them behind the lead, as both had problems finding points on their roadbooks that Catalan’s co-pilot Alex Haro (Nani’s navigator) assured them were not well marked on their route sheets. Ford is currently working on possible time claims for this possible error.

The pilots of dakar They must follow roadbook notes to find the right path and “hunt” a series of “waypoints”, which are hidden points that the pilot must find during a stage. As you pass them (within a 300 meter radius), a warning will appear in the car to let you know that the car has been activated to allow you to continue. Failure to open one of these waypoints will result in a 15 minute penalty.

By starting far in advance with no favorites in front of you, Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz They already knew that they would suffer in stage 10 and that at some point they would have to open the course without any trace of other cars or bikes (which were on a different route). Mr Nani claimed he lost about 12 minutes at that point as he had to walk back through the dunes until he was spotted. So the leadership of Dakar was there.

In that respect, Carlos Sainz At that point he lost even more time. he started from resignation 22 minutes until 28:00I couldn’t find it, so I decided to skip it to the end.

“Actually, the point was wrong.”

what happened? Alex Haro told Spanish reporters at the bivouac that the route sheet showed the stopover was on the railway next to the dunes. But in reality, the spot they had to verify was at the top of the dune, next to it. So both crews ended up spending their time searching for him.

Then Nani explained. He admitted that even if other pilots spotted him, it meant he was not in a bad position.

“You don’t know, this is where everything turns around. Look at Carlos today, you see? The subject changes quickly. The Dakar has to be very humble, very cautious. You can’t get too excited, that’s what it is. And you can’t get upset now about what happened. No, it’s part of the game. Navigation is part of the rally raid. If someone finds it and we don’t…well, let’s see, the point is, ‘There was a note written in the road book that was hard to read.’

“How was it? In theory we should have gone down and taken the course, but…the point was on the dunes.And Alex says: Here’s the course…and here’s the point…and we’re not. And then at the end of the lap…I lost Nasser by 12 minutes. So I ended up going the other way around the dunes. So I said, “Let’s go find the one on the right.” And then, boom, I did. I think we’ve driven past that circle several times before, found it, turned around and let out the gas. ”

Carlos Sainz didn’t want to talk much about this. Initially, when the MD asked him about the poor markings in the roadbook, “El Matador” replied, “I don’t think it’s a roadbook problem.” “When we had to maintain the CAP at the dune point, we followed the trail and when we had to get to the waypoint, it was clear that it wasn’t who opened it…Maybe that’s where we couldn’t find it.”

The newspaper then reported that Alex Haro and Nani explained that the “road book” showed the spot to be on the railroad tracks, not on the dunes. “They might be right,” Carlos said, followed by silence. he didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to complain. Ford could do that.