De Villiers heavily penalized for riding a motorcycle

Le jury a tranché et la sanction est lourde. Giniel de Villiers, copiloté par Dennis Murphy (Toyota) quittent brutalement leur quatrième place du classement général du Dakar 2022 à l’issue de la quatrième étape ce mercredi 5 janvier.

The South Africans, already in the crosshairs of the commissioners of the rally-raid following their mowing and their non-assistance to an amateur biker during the first stage (5 minute penalty), have this time gone beyond the limits. Their Toyota Hilux T1+ had ridden on the KTM of poor Mohamedsaid Aoulad Ali during the second stage upon landing on a dune. Fortunately, the Moroccan biker was not hit by the 4×4, but had to give up his dream of finishing the event.

Summoned by the commissioners, Giniel de Villiers defended himself by playing the card of Sentinel not audible. This system, activated by a competitor (car, motorcycle, SSV, truck), makes it possible to warn any vehicle present in the surrounding area of ​​imminent danger. “We have not heard any alarms from the Sentinel. We have no doubt that we received it. The problem is that the Sentinel button is located on the co-pilot side floor. During the special, the co-driver's feet move easily, and can accidentally press the button.

When we negotiated the dune, we saw the biker and I avoided him so as not to hurt him. We didn't feel any impact against the bike when we landed. Then we continued the special. We are very embarrassed by what happened. We sincerely apologize for this incident. We are also willing to compensate the cost of rebuilding the motorcycle. »

This Wednesday evening, the winner of the 2009 edition confirmed to the jury of FIM (International Motorcycling Federation) commissioners that he will pay the cost of replacing the motorcycle with Mohamedsaid Aoulad Ali. The South African will also bear at its own expense the commitment by Mohamedsaid Aoulad Ali at the 2023 Dakar. The latter said he was very satisfied with this arrangement according to the commissioners' press release.

Given this chivalrous reaction on the part of Giniel de Villiers, the jury decided to apply a time penalty, but not an exclusion from the competition. In return, the said penalty is significant enough to deprive Giniel de Villiers of any hope of an honorable result on the Dakar: 5 hours, enough to relegate them to 39th place. Toyota Gazoo Racing thus lost a cartridge in the fight for final victory.