Carlos Sainz's defence of his Dakar Rally title ended prematurely on Monday when the Spaniard was forced to pull out after the marathon 48-hour stage won by Lithuanian driver Rokas Baciuska.

Defending champion Carlos Sainz is nearly an hour off the pace in the Dakar Rally after his car flipped in the Saudi Arabia dunes.

Carlos Sainz's Dakar Rally ended on Monday after the defending champion's damaged Ford Raptor was ruled out after just two stages of the gruelling two-week race in the Saudi Arabian desert. The 62-year-old Spaniard,

Sainz’ teammate in the Ford M-Sport team, Mitch Guthrie Jr., stopped and helped the 62-year-old flip the car back onto its wheels. Sainz was only 3min27sec behind the leader, Toyota’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi when the crash occurred.

Nineteen-year-old Saood Variawa of South Africa became the youngest top-class driver to win a stage in the Dakar Rally.

Veteran Spanish driver Carlos Sainz made history when he won his fourth Dakar Rally last year and is confident that he has what it takes to challenge for victory in this season's gruelling race in Saudi Arabia.

Nine-times world rally champion Sebastien Loeb is out of the Dakar Rally after he rolled his Dacia in the Saudi desert on Tuesday as the race continued to take a toll of the big names after the exit of 2024 winner Carlos Sainz.

His Ford Raptor was in no fit state to continue after being flipped on its head the day before. Read more at straitstimes.com.