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Carlos Sainz said he was unsighted as his Dakar Rally dreams ended in a dramatic tumble into an Argentine ravine.

The Spaniard was not aware of the drop which left his co-driver Michel Perin with a broken arm and his Volkswagen upside down.

The two-times world rally champion had started the 12th stage with a 27-minute lead over American team-mate Mark Miller and was comfortably on course for a maiden victory in the gruelling event.

But that was before disaster struck after 79km of the 220km stage.

"We couldn't see. The front wheels were in the hole and then we toppled over on the front and then the roof. I braked but I couldn't stop," said Sainz, who hurt his shoulder in the incident.

Frenchman Perin suffered a broken arm and both men were airlifted back to the bivouac at the stage's start in Fiambala.

"For a few days, Michel wasn't happy with the roadbook. Luckily I wasn't driving fast. If we were attacking then it would not have been very pleasant," added Sainz, who had won six of the stages of this year's event.

"I'm happy it was just a shoulder injury as we were in a very bad place."

Sainz was the latest in a long line of big names forced out of this year's Dakar.

Defending champion Stephane Peterhansel and his Mitsubishi team-mates and fellow former winners Luc Alphand and Hiroshi Masuoka all pulled out in the first week as did early leader Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar, in a BMW, who was disqualified.

Miller and his Volkswagen team-mate Giniel De Villiers of South Africa now look set to tussle for the title.

AFP