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Huge de Villiers sentence withdrawn after new evidence

7 January 2022 at 16:28
Last update 7 January 2022 at 17:58
  • GPblog.com

Giniel de Villiers did not start yesterday's fifth stage with a good feeling, as he received a time penalty of no less than five hours. Fortunately, the sixth stage ends a little better, as new evidence has resulted in his time penalty being rescinded.

De Villiers was involved in two different incidents during the first two stages of the Dakar Rally. In the first incident, he tapped motorcycle driver Cesar Zumuran, after which he drove off. He received a five-minute time penalty for this collision.

The second incident was a collision with Mohamedsaid Aoulad Ali. He ran over the driver's engine, but then immediately apologized and even wanted to pay his registration fee for the next rally. Nevertheless, the FIA decided to give him a five-hour penalty.

New evidence

Toyota Gazoo Racing didn't want to stop there and so they decided to appeal with new evidence. De Villiers should have received a warning from the system that a driver was nearby, but he only got it two seconds before the collision. Moreover, the South African driver was really trying to avoid the motorcyclist and based on that information his sentence was revoked anyway.