Daniel Schröder was livid at himself when his Dakar Rally ended due to a rollover on the very first day. Upon further review, the accident was only so violent for something out of his control: he had clipped a metal barrel that spectators had presumably left on the course.

During Saturday’s Prologue, Schröder lost control of his Volkswagen Amarok and rolled multiple times before landing on his roof. Even before the vehicle stopped rolling, he was already cursing himself for the error. Once he and navigator Henry Carl Köhne exited unharmed, a frustrated Schröder kicked the car and called himself “the biggest, stupidest motherfucker around here.”

The onboard footage was posted on social media by the official Dakar Rally accounts, quickly gaining traction due to his profane response.

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The damage was substantial, especially to the roll cage. Unable to get it fixed, he had no option but to retire.

He and his PS Laser Racing team spent the rest of the day doing a postmortem on what specifically caused the accident. They eventually found the barrel, which they surmise was moved around by spectators before ending up on the course.

Upon hitting the barrel, Schröder tried to save the Amarok but then crashed into a tree.

“I started going about 1.5 kilometers on flat, sandy surfaces with some bushes and flat-out stuff,” Schröder recalled on Sunday. “We were just going along, a sweeping left corner, and all of a sudden, we got a kick.

“I thought it was a bush or something like that. It was in the middle of the road on the main track. Ended up being a small barrel or whatever. Kicked us out, then we hit the car up to the right, then corrected it up on the left, and then back to the right. By chance, it pushed us directly into the biggest tree.”

It is a frustrating end to Schröder’s fourth Dakar. His father Jürgen is still going in his own Amarok, having finished 69th in Ultimate for the Prologue.

Featured image credit: Terence Marsh