Carlos Sainz Sr flips his Audi Dakar car, gets airlifted to hospital, tells pilot to turn around, returns to race

Want to know how tough the Dakar Rally really is? Just check out the video in the embedded Tweet below. That’s 60-year-old Carlos Sainz Sr sending it off a sand dune a little too quickly, flipping his Audi RS Q e-tron onto its roof in the process. Ouch.

Sainz and his co-driver Lucas Cruz then enlist the help of some fans to get the range-extending Audi back onto its wheels, but that isn’t the end of the story…

🎥 First footage of @CSainz_oficial and @LucasCruz74's crash, after only 6km in the special. 🚗#Dakar2023 pic.twitter.com/se7SKV27YD

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 10, 2023

Sainz reported chest pains after the shunt, which happened just six kilometres into the 358km special stage. As a result, the Spaniard was airlifted to the local hospital for checks and it was assumed that the crash would end his 2023 Dakar campaign. 

However, he reportedly changed his mind halfway through the journey and asked the helicopter pilot to turn around and head back to his car. What a trooper. 

We’re told that Sainz and Cruz got the RS Q e-tron going again but didn’t complete the special stage. Still, that should at least allow the pair to continue in the race. 

With just five stages left to go, Nasser Al-Attiyah currently has the outright lead in his Toyota Hilux, while Sebastien Loeb took the special stage nine victory in his Prodrive Hunter. Massive props to all the teams, we say.