Laia Sanz says goodbye to Dakar 2025 in the first stage, her first abandonment in 15 editions

The Spanish driver Laia Sanz was forced to end her participation in the 2025 Dakar Rally in cars due to an accident in the first stage and after the FIA ​​safety review, the Catalan’s first abandonment in 15 editions.

“It’s a shame to start the Dakar like this. We ran out of third gear at kilometer 20. We were saving the day well, going slowly. In the dust our navigation instruments stopped working. We were super calm to finish the stage, but 70 kilometers from the end we caught a rock that we did not see because of the dust and we overturned, and now we are trying to repair it,” Sanz herself said from the scene of the accident.

The ‘Queen of the Desert’, at 39 years old, fought to cross the finish line on the edge of the time limit, with many doubts as to whether the protection bars would save the review by the International Federation. After 14 Dakar Rally finishes, the highest-placed woman on motorcycles in the history of the race with a ninth place in 2015, Sanz could not continue despite seeing the car repairable.

“It will depend on the bars, on whether the FIA ​​gives us permission to go out, the car can be repaired, it depends on the permission. The car is good, it’s a shame, this year I especially wanted to do well, it has been difficult to be here,” Sanz said upon reaching the finish line, speaking to TVE. Shortly after, the FIA ​​found his Century unfit, due to a deformation of the bar that was not visible to the naked eye.

Sanz arrived in Saudi Arabia confident of victory in the T1.2 category with his Century, with a car that he knew well because it was the one with which he achieved 15th position overall in the last edition. However, her options flew in the first stage in Bisha and she did not even have the opportunity to at least fight for the rest of a Dakar that demonstrated her toughness with that hidden stone and the forcefulness of the FIA ​​to force her to abandon.