Dakar | Serious accident for Vingut: he will have emergency surgery

During the fifth stage of the 2024 Dakar Rally, consisting of 188 timed kilometers and several hundred kilometers of connection after the marathon with two hours of assistance, another serious accident occurred for one of the Spanish drivers. It was Toni Vingut, who participated in the quad category, being the only Spaniard of the ten registered in this category of vehicles.

The Ibiza driver was ready to reach the start of the 527 kilometer special stage, but was in a hurry regarding the timetable, so he got nervous and risked too much to be at the start when it was his turn. This caused him to fall and suffer several fractures, including his coccyx and his right arm, where he suffered an open fracture.

The Spanish runner had to go to the medical center, where he was directed directly to Al-Hofuf hospital to begin the surgery: “I was on a transfer, a very long transfer of 500 kilometres, I stopped for a moment, and when I when I restarted the quad it wouldn't start, I don't know what happened, maybe an electrical problem, and I went crazy trying to fix it.”

“When I left, I arrived at the start, at the end of the connection late, all the motorbikes had already left, and all the cars were about to leave, and if they do, they don't let the motorbikes and quads leave, you have to do it first”, said the Spaniard. “They almost let me out, and again at the start I was disappointed again, then I started again, I got nervous, I started badly and I wasn't very concentrated.”

“We had a fast course ahead, and when I went left, into the dunes, I went down several, and at the bottom I thought I was flat out,” explained Toni Vingut. “I didn't see well, it seemed to me that it was flat, I opened the throttle and it seemed like there was a more cut dune, and I found myself flying, from very high up. I landed in balance, but the height was such that I fallen”.

“I broke several ribs, I don't know if five or six, my right arm and my coccyx, and now they will transfer me to Riyadh, they have to operate on me, because I had an open fracture in my right arm, they told me it had to be operated on urgently , and they will also operate on the coccyx, I will have to spend a few days here and then go home”, said the Ibiza native pilot.