Today was not only important for the dispute of the sixth stage of the 44th edition of the Dakar, but also for the appeal made by Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa and the opening of the FIA precisely against the complaint made by the team that, currently, he commands the Auto class with Nasser Al-Attiyah. In fact, once the new tests brought by the team have been studied, the Federation has decided to remove the 5 hour penalty inflicted on Giniel De Villiers at the end of Stage 2.
The South African had been punished by the race marshals with a total of 5 hours and 5 minutes of penalty for having invested – within 24 hours – two riders of the Moto class during the first and second stages of the Dakar currently underway in Saudi Arabia.
The most important penalty, that of 5 hours, came due to the second accident, which again involved De Villiers. The South African has run over a motorcycle (fortunately not the rider), destroying it. At the end of the stage, the two then reached an agreement: De Villiers will pay for the repair of the bike. It will also pay for the driver’s registration to the next edition of the Dakar.
A bad story for De Villiers, who was punished on a sporting level with 5 hours and 5 minutes (deriving from the first sanction) that put him out of action for the victory of the Dakar. There are many controversies related to these penalties: many would have preferred much heavier penalties.
However, according to what Toyota said, the team would have collected new evidence, not initially in its possession. for this he appealed to the FIA and the appeal was admitted precisely due to the presence of new evidence.
The new tests include the presence of the pilots’ exact GPS, which were not present at the time of the penalty imposed on De Villiers. It also emerged that De Villiers and his navigator were warned by the Sentinel system of the centaur’s presence just 2 seconds before the collision.
That period of time was deemed too short to be able to take action against De Villiers, who in any case attempted a maneuver to avoid the driver’s vehicle. Furthermore, the Sentinel device was judged to be reliable, but not always perfect in reception. And this was precisely the case that cleared De Villiers.
Thanks to this decision, De Villiers is strongly in contention for a podium position in the Auto class. He is now in fourth position, trailing behind leader and teammate Al-Attiyah by 51 minutes.
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