De Villiers ruled out of victory in Dakar Rally after huge time penalty

Giniel de Villiers has received a five hour time penalty for an incident he was involved in during the Dakar Rally. The South African driver was previously given a time penalty for failing to help a motorcyclist after a touch.

In the first incident of the second stage, he tapped a motorcyclist, who then stood up and waved. De Villiers took this as a sign that he could continue. This is not allowed and he was given a five-minute time penalty.

In the same stage, he collided with another motorcyclist. De Villiers would have run over a motorbike, of which the driver would not have been present. For this De Villiers received an additional time penalty of no less than five hours, which means he is out of the running for the title. De Villiers was third in the general classification, over 44 minutes behind Nasser Al-Attiyah.

The five-hour time penalty drops De Villiers to 38th place in the overall standings and means he cannot compete for the title. Yazeed Al-Rajhi takes over third place in the standings, over 49 minutes behind Al-Attiyah. Sebastian Loeb remains in second place, 38 minutes behind Al-Attiyah.