Sainz had looked like the man to beat in the 367km special between Al Duwadimi and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, the Spanish driver leading from the very first checkpoint to take a provisional 1m39s victory over Bahrain Raid Xtreme driver Loeb.
However, the celebration at Audi turned out to be short-lived as Sainz was soon handed a five-minute time penalty for speeding, stripping him of first place.
