Dakar Rally 2018: Wrong Turn

The year of the yellow dog for the racers of the famous Dakar rally began with setbacks. Injuries and breakdowns haunt participants daily. This time, the Arabian racer Yazid Al-Raji, who overcomes the desert of Peru in a Mini car, was not lucky.

Dakar Rally 2018: Wrong Turn

As it became known, a breakdown in the road took the participant’s time and, in order to catch up with the rivals, the rider decided to shorten the path using a map of the area. It was comfortable to drive along the coastal zone, on smooth and even sand, only an experienced Mini pilot did not expect that there would be any danger on the track. Wet sand, literally, sucked the car into the ocean.

The pilot and the navigator were seriously afraid, because they could not get the SUV out of the trap, and the waves tried to drag the car into the abyss of the ocean. It is not known how the epic would end if Chilean racer Boris Garafulich didn’t pass by on the same Mini SUV.

In a media statement, the Arabian made excuses that at a fork in the middle of the desert, he got confused and chose the wrong turn. However, experts say that it is impossible to get confused with an experienced navigator and a map in their hands. I am glad that other participants of the race also prefer the sand dunes to the beach, otherwise the stuck car would simply be carried away into the ocean.