Bryce Menzies ended his first Dakar Rally in the second stage after crashing out in the sand dunes of Peru, with the subsequent multiple roll causing his co-driver Peter Mortensen to suffer a broken ankle.
The American duo had finished Saturday’s opening stage in an excellent fourth position on board their Mini John Cooper Works Buggy, but they were unable to continue after their incident, with Menzies revealing that the car flipped ‘six or seven’ times.
Menzies apologised to his team for the incident, praising them for the way they supported him in this years Dakar Rally, and he is already looking to the 2019 event in order to turn around his fortunes.
“I’m alright. I was more worried about my co-driver – he ended up breaking his ankle,” said Menzies. “We started the day off running on a grated road when Pete called out a double caution.
“I checked up and saw it and thought it was a smaller bump than it was. We hit it and unloaded the rear and it went to the front bumper. I think we flipped six or seven times. It’s not what I wanted to do for my first Dakar.
“I feel really bad for the whole team because of all the work they did to get the car here and get behind me. All I can do now beside work as hard as I can to come back next year – and come back strong.”
