Laia Sanz He lived one of the hardest days of his sports career. In the first stage of Dakar 2025the Catalan, after a very good prologue, suffered when she ran out of third gear and, later, when it seemed that she had saved the day, rolling in the cloud of dust that D was raisinge Villiersby just 10 centimeters, touched a stone and overturned.
Were 5 hours in the deserttrying to fix the car until it could resume driving. An adventure against the clock then began. I had a limited time to get through a ‘closed gate’ and to enter the bivouac arrival time limit. Without the tablet working, with a difficult navigation point a few kilometers ahead, with the car damaged and without third gear, Laia achieved what seemed impossible, which was to reach the camp with only 2 minutes to spare.
Therefore, that FIA forcing him to abandon due to the displacement of a bar of his safety arch, of only 2 millimeters, hurt him even more. The night was complicated. One of your sponsors, Josep Maria Lloredaof KH7came to her caravan to console her and make it clear that she should be calm, that her support was unconditional and that nothing was wrong with the return that any sponsor needs. And that, at some point it’s hard, is comforting.
In the morning, I had accepted it, although I was still broken inside. Especially for seeing her battle companions go out on the track while she stayed there, in the bivouac.
“I haven’t been able to sleep much. It’s been a hard night. But this morning I’m already a little more cheerful, although it’s hard to see… I had never experienced it, it is the first year, and even more so the first day, andSeeing everyone leave for the 48-hour stage hurts a lot, but you have to take it philosophically and work for the next one, there is no other choice.”Laia told MD when she spoke to the Spanish press present at the bivouac.
When Laia He managed to reach the bivouac, the most difficult thing seemed to have passed. It was time to check that there was no damage to the car. But Laia He feared the worst when he realized that one of the upper side bars of his car’s safety arch was minimally displaced. The commissioners of the FIA who later came to check the car to validate that it could go to stage 2, they saw it. They deliberated for several minutes. They left, returned, and finally announced that they were going to consider their decision. And finally, the FIA did not take any chances. As expected.
Laia Sanz’s car, after her accident, with a blow that displaced a bar by 2mm, something for which the FIA forced the Catalan to abandon
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There was no possibility of interpretation. It was black or white. The bar was moved and could not come out because that caused it to lose structural resistance. In the safety cage, everything is calculated based on its initial state, and if a bar is displaced or damaged, that force calculation changes completely. Safety can no longer be guaranteed in the event of a new rollover. And Laia understood it.
“The team engineers said that nothing would have happened, but it is also understandable that the people of the FIA do not want to assume this responsibility and if something had happened later it would have been a brown mark. It’s understandable, but it hurts and I wish they had let us out. Although we would no longer have been able to fight for a result, we could have fought in stages and we could have added kilometers, which in the end we do not have the option during the year. The FIA is very demanding and it is normal, for safety reasons. It’s what it takes. It also happened to my teammate last year and we have to accept it. But it’s a bitch.”
Laia Sanz’s car, after her accident, with a blow that displaced a bar by 2mm, something for which the FIA forced the Catalan to abandon
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What happened especially hurt because Laia arrived at the Dakar 2025 wanting to vindicate themselves. She needed a great result to finally find the opportunity she deserves, that of an official brand betting on her with a top category car (T1+), better than the one she had this year, a two-wheel drive with which she wanted to fight to win that category 4×2.
Laia has had a difficult 2024 due to lack of budget and seeing that she could not aspire to a T1+ despite all his achievements and his quality behind the wheel. As if nothing he had demonstrated in the Dakar counted for his future. That’s why I especially wanted to hit the weight. But in stage 1, that desire was frustrated and he found himself back at the starting box, having to face again that ‘other Dakar’ that was so complicated, that of finding a good project and a good car, and also being able to have filming during the year. Laia arrived at Dakar 2025 without having tested your car since Dakar past and was measured against drivers with much more money and mileage on their vehicles. He wants 2026 to be different.
“I STILL HAVE A LOT TO SAY, EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A SOMETHING”
“It has come at the least opportune time, surely, but in races these things happen. YesSurely it is the year that was least expected for something like this to happen, but in the end it is like that, we have to accept it and I always try to be positive. I’m sure he’s been through something good and it’s time to keep rowing, working. I haven’t said everything here and I really want things to go well,” he commented.
“I’m more excited than ever. It has been a very complicated year, but we have to take the positive side out of everything. It’s hard to see now, but I’m sure this happened for a reason. I always believe that bad things happen for a reason and I am sure that good things will come from here. At the very least, we will have learned things. We have worked very hard. I feel bad because this year I had worked very well physically, I was starting to feel very good after the whole Lyme issue (which I suffered a couple of years ago), I knew the car well and it was a good year to try to win the 4×2 category and He had a very good rhythm, so I’ll stick with that.”
“The other Dakar begins to be in the Dakar 2026, which is even more difficult. Now it’s time to disconnect a little, rest and work to be here next year with a good project and see if we can do kilometers during the year, which I think is what it takes to get here well prepared.”added Laia.
“It has been a disappointment. It costs a lot to come here. I think it was a year to do very well, both in my category (two-wheel drive) and in general. In fact, I was surprised in the prologue to be so far ahead with the 4x4s out there without having driven or tested the car before. And nothing, they are things that happen. It was also already playing. Of 15 Dakars, being away in one, I think is also something very unique. What happens is that it was a year in which I especially wanted to do well and vindicate myself, and it hurts a little more.”
YOUR ACCIDENT
“The day didn’t start well. We had a super starting position that we couldn’t take advantage of very well. We ran out of third gear at kilometer 20, and being a technical stage, which was more difficult than they said, we had to go from second to fourth and from fourth to second, being very careful. We thought that we were not reaching the end because of the gear change and in fact we were going slowly, and even so, after looking at the times and the classification, we were saving the day very well. And then our tablets stopped working and we still took it easier. De Villiers passed us, and in his dust, we caught a stone. We were 10 centimeters outside a rut and I didn’t even see the stone. The stone lifted our car and we almost saved it, but we overturned. Then I had to go see what had happened, because when you go in a cloud of dust you don’t see what’s there. And it makes it even more angry because we weren’t pushing, it wasn’t like that. It was a bit of a survival stage.”
HE DID NOT ABANDONE IN ANY OF HIS 14 PREVIOUS DAKARES
“What I have done so far has been very beast and you start to think about it and I value it. And statistically it was probably time to go home. But the first day and this way, it hurts. Furthermore, by suffering a lot we were able to repair the car, arrive, for only two minutes, and you arrive here and for two millimeters on the bars, you are left out and it hurts. It is understood but it hurts.”
FOUND THE NAVIGATION MESS
“Our tablets no longer worked and Gerini did an incredible job because we didn’t get lost, and where we were standing, apart from the fact that three or four other cars also ate our stone, ahead there was a complicated point and we were very close to the right. time to get to the closed door and we almost didn’t get there because we got lost, there were people everywhere and at night it is super difficult, and we found the way point luckily and were able to get there. But yes, there was quite a lot of fuss.”
