Óscar Ral’s Dakar Rally has come to an abrupt end after being disqualified because a spectator tried to help him attach his loose wheel during Stage 3.

Ral had lost a wheel during Tuesday’s stage, forcing his Taurus Evo Max to come to a stop. He and navigator Fernando Acosta didn’t have the tools needed to reattach the wheel, so they had to sit and wait for a service truck to come.

As they waited, a fan came onto the course and attempted to offer assistance by jumping on their car. This didn’t work, and the truck subsequently arrived to tow them to the refuel area.

While the fan didn’t resolve the issue, Article 49.2.1 of the FIA Cross-Country Rally Sporting Regulations stipulates, “The crew, using solely the equipment on board and with no external physical assistance, may perform service on the vehicle at any time, other than where this is specifically prohibited.”

Ral and Acosta apologized and stressed they were unaware of this rule. Still, since the spectator counted as “external physical assistance”, they were promptly disqualified.

The disqualification is the third violation of Article 49.2.1 in the W2RC era. It happened twice at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge for João Ferreira and Juan Cruz Yacopini, who had team members as well as the latter’s father come to help them while their cars were still in the Selective Section. Originally, the rule only discussed barring team members from the SS, but was revised after the 2023 Dakar Rally when Carlos Sainz’s F1-driving son—who was not a team member and wore a media vest—helped his dad close the door on a pit stop.

Ral finished ninth in Challenger in the Prologue followed by 14th in Stage 1 and 33rd in Stage 2.

Featured image credit: Jennifer Lindini / ASO