Sainz arrived at the 467km special between Alula and Ha'il with a small advantage of 2m12s over reigning champion Al-Attiyah, with both drivers having scored one stage win apiece during the opening two days of action in Saudi Arabia.
But the Spaniard received a big hit to his hopes of adding a fifth Dakar win to his CV when his Audi RS Q e-tron E2 broke down 213km into the stage with problems to the left-rear tyre, costing him the best part of half an hour to the Qatari driver.
