Sainz Sr. diagnosed with spinal cord injury

For Carlos Sainz Sr. hadn’t the Dakar rally raid just failed due to various kinds of bad luck and incidents, which eventually led to its retirement. The unpleasant consequences of the accident on the ninth stage of the rally raid emerged after the driver returned home to Spain, which he talked about on his pages in social networks.

A week ago, last Tuesday, an off-road electric car Audi driven by Sainz came down badly after jumping off another dune. The frontal impact on the ground was so strong that even the strong carbon frame of the car could not withstand it, the Audi team reports.

Carlos Sainz: “When I returned to Madrid from the rally, the back pain I experienced after the accident lasted longer than usual. On the advice of doctors, I underwent an additional examination to assess in detail the severity of the injury.

Unfortunately, the results brought bad news: I turned out to have cracks in the 5th and 6th vertebrae. It is good that both vertebrae are in a stable condition and from now on my priority task is to recover as soon as possible.

Thank you all for the love and support I feel all these days. They keep you informed.”

The rider needs complete rest in the coming weeks and then the recovery process can go relatively quickly. Spanish newspaper Marca, reporting on Sainz’s situation, refers to the recent example of another driver, Efren Llarena, the reigning European rally champion, who suffered a similar spinal injury in an accident on a stage in the Czech Republic, but after ten days and entered the start of the rally in Asturias.

According to Sainz’s plans, he was scheduled to perform on March 11-12 in the first stage of the Extreme E off-road season, which will also be held in Saudi Arabia. There is no doubt that the 60-year-old Spanish rider intends to make a full recovery by then.