At the Dakar Rally, a driver was injured in an explosion in his vehicle.
As the organizers of the rally announced on Saturday, the man should be flown to his home country France after his operation.
According to the rally organizer ASO, the driver was seriously injured on Thursday when his vehicle was stopped by a "sudden explosion".
The police wanted to "rule out no possibility, not even a malicious act".
Afterwards, however, the Saudi Arabian interior minister said on Twitter that there was no “criminal suspicion” of the cause of the “accident”.
According to him, the crashed vehicle was an escort vehicle with a total of six passengers on board, one of whom was hospitalized.
His condition was therefore not critical.
Race director David Castera stated in an interview with French media that the driver was the 61-year-old Philippe Boutron.
He took part in the rally for the ninth time and is president of a French football club in the third division.
According to the rally organizers, Boutron had to have an operation on his leg.
According to the French Foreign Ministry, the other five passengers were unharmed.
Despite the assurances of the Saudi Arabian authorities, the security precautions around the rally camp have been significantly strengthened, as an AFP reporter reported.
In the travel advice on its website, the French Foreign Ministry also called for “maximum vigilance” after the “explosion” and stressed that “the hypothesis of a criminal act cannot be ruled out”.
Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar had previously won the prologue for the 44th Dakar Rally.
The Toyota driver prevailed on only 19 test kilometers on the way from Jeddah to Hail and was allowed to start from the best position in the final part of the first stage on Sunday.
Second was the two-time rally world champion and three-time Dakar winner Carlos Sainz Senior from Spain in the new Audi with hybrid drive (+0: 12 minutes), and third was the South African Brian Baragwanath (Century / + 0: 36).
The Dakar will run through the sand and dunes of Saudi Arabia for more than 8,000 kilometers until January 14th.
Defending champion and record winner is Stephane Peterhansel, who is competing in an electric car for Audi for the first time this year.