The 2024 Dakar claims another victim. The toughest race in the world had a chaotic start in the first special tests, full of rocks and sand, which caused many of the riders, usually from the motorcycle category, serious accidents which forced them to retire due to physical problems, even if in car category not even Pau Navarro was spared.
At just 19 years old he faced the greatest challenge of his life, having in his hands a MINI from the X-Raid team, which gave him confidence for the 46th edition of the race in the Saudi Arabian desert. The Catalan rider impressed everyone in the Ultimate category, but a wrist injury caused by a rollover in the second stage will prevent him from continuing to show what he could be capable of.
“Pau Navarro injured his wrist in yesterday's rollover. Unfortunately, the young Spaniard will have to withdraw from the 2024 Dakar,” read a team statement on social media. The entire X-Raid team wishes Pau a speedy recovery.”
The Motorsport.com correspondent at the Al Duwadimi bivouac went to see how damaged the car was in the evening, and saw the mechanics working until 2.30 in the morning, with still a lot to do. However, things went worse for the driver who, hit both physically and morally, will have to wait until next January to prove he can be one of the protagonists.
And the elimination race continues. After the withdrawals of Tosha Schareina, Joaquim Rodrigues and Lorenzo Santolino, Sam Sunderland also said goodbye to the Dakar, even if in his case it was a mechanical failure on his GasGas at kilometer 11. The Briton, aware of the harshness of the event and how much his two overall victories cost him, in 2017 and 2022 respectively, he tried to leave for over three and a half hours, but, like the Spaniard, he had to pack up everything he had brought with him and go home earlier than expected.
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