The Toyota driver ran over Chilean rider Cesar Zumaran on the second stage of the rally-raid on Monday, earning himself a five-minute time penalty for the collision.
This was followed by a second accident the same day, where the South African was unable to avoid the crashed bike of Mohamedsaid Aoulad Ali after coming down a dune.
The FIA stewards initially handed him a five-hour penalty for acting in an “unsafe manner”, leaving him out of the fight for overall honours.
However, de Villiers was subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing after a protest by Toyota on Friday, putting him back to fourth in the standings.
An investigation from Dakar’s Sentinel safety system provider ERTF concluded that the reception inside the car was “adequate but not optimal”, which could have caused the signal to be transmitted later.
It was found that the system warned de Villiers just two seconds before the collision, leaving them with little time to take action. As he avoided the rider,…
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