Sainz finished second on day one of the Dakar Rally, falling 1m44s short of stage winner Guillaume de Mevius in Saudi Arabia.
Numerous drivers suffered problems across the day with Sainz’s report of three punctures in the rocky area positioning the Spaniard as one of the worst affected.
"I was losing little [time], so I kept going, and then, at about 15 or 20 kilometres, the stones started and I had a puncture, so I changed from the pull so as not to lose any more time with the two wheels," Sainz told media including Autosport.
"I kept going and then [I had] a puncture. I had no tyres left, I kept going and in the dust, I came across a car, I had another puncture and I had to change it.
"After that, I had to fill the slow puncture wheel with air, and I thought I had lost about fifteen or twenty minutes.”
Source: Autosport