Left in barrels with Al Qassimi, Panseri gives reassuring news

The first Dakar in Saudi Arabia is not kind to the competitors. If in motorcycle several headliners gave up during the first week, in car category, they are Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi and Xavier Panseri (Peugeot) who destroyed their podium dreams.

The Emirati pilot and the French co-pilot, who started off on the right foot due to their knowledge of the terrain, violently rolled over during the third stage. The image, shared by Xavier Panseri on his networks, is extremely spectacular:

“After a good navigation we catch up with Al-Attiyah-Baumel and de Villiers-Haro, explains the navigator. As always it's a big battle to be first so as not to be bothered by dust in the next few kms.

We took a parallel track on the left, so as not to be in the dust of the first car butsuddenly the wind changed direction, and completely blinded us. We slow down a little but maybe 50-100m later there was a large stone, which my pilot avoided by turning but the right rear wheel was caught by it. It's not really a mistake, but more a lack of luck. »

En rally-raid, camaraderie is never far away, and two competitors helped the injured crew. « Many thanks to de Villiers-Haro and Sainz-Cruz for stopping for first aid. Regardless, we will be back racing, we just need a few weeks of recovery. »

Returned to his home in Poland, Xavier Panseri was diagnosed with fracture of the clavicle. Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi reportedly suffers from a broken hand.