The Dakar Rally ended sooner than expected for Carlos Sainz after the WRC legend suffered an enormous crash.
Sainz was just five kilometres from the end of the fourth stage of the rally (widely considered to be the most difficult) when he spectacularly lost control of his Peugeot 3008 DKR and rolled off of the road, narrowly avoiding some spectators.
The 54-year-old (who won the event in 2010) was battling for the lead at the time and although he managed to recover to finish the stage the damage was too severe to repair in the time allowed, putting Sainz out of the rally.
.@CSainz_oficial, winner of the 2010 edition abandons / Sainz abandona. #Dakar2017 pic.twitter.com/AzSThYOzth
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 6, 2017
Thankfully everyone was ok. Including those ‘brave’ (yeah, let’s go with ‘brave’) fans standing on the outside of the corner, who got this incredible video of Sainz coming towards them.
If there’s a lesson to be learned here it’s this: don’t film in vertical!