The special stage 12 route has been canned for bikes and quads over safety concerns at the 2018 Dakar rally but trucks and cars will continue as planned.
Instead, the first bike will begin the liaison from Fiambala to Suan Juan’s bivouac at 6AM local time. Cars and trucks will continue with the full stage 12 as planned to meet the rally organsiers in San Juan.
In the car category, Sainz has had his 10-minute time penalty revoked after an appeal which sees his general classification lead stretch to 1hr 00m45s over Peugeot team-mate Stephane Peterhansel. Sainz was initially handed the time penalty for a crash with a quad rider but after an investigation the Spaniard was cleared of any foul actions.
