𓃲The route blunder came during the 158th kilometre of the rally, at stage 7 in a race that started and finished in AI Duawadimi (412 km loop)
An error in the driver’s route guide caused massive chaos at the Dakar Rally on Sunday (January 12) as the cars went off route into the Saudi Arabian desert in a blunder called a “disaster" by former champion Nasser al-Attiyah. (More Motorsport News)
ꦏThe route blunder came during the 158th kilometre of the rally, at stage 7 in a race that started and finished in AI Duawadimi (412 km loop).
ꦬAfter going off course, the drivers lost time, driving without direction in the desert until a helicopter arrived to put the cars back on the right route.
🌃The blunder garnered quite a bit of criticism and had to also cancel the times on the 20-km section of the race, with some confusion over the remainder of the course after the cars had set out.
ꦑ"We were there for 50 minutes, 50 minutes of going round in circles," Belgian driver Guillaume de Mevius was quoted as saying by the Black Hills Pioneer.
🐓"We were crossing paths with everyone who was turning round, trying to get to the same place as us but which we'd already tried," he added.
𒅌Toyota’s Lucas Moraes (7 min 41 sec) came out as the stage winner, finishing the race ahead of Mattias Ekstrom (9 min 28 sec ) from Sweden and United States’ Mitchell Guthrie (9 min 28 sec) in Fords.