The Spaniard, who won the South American event for Volkswagen in 2010, finished Monday's short opening stage of the 2017 event in fourth, the best of Peugeot's four-strong factory line-up.

However, speaking after the end of the stage, Sainz said the all-new 3008DKR is significantly down on power compared to its main competitor, the Toyota Hilux, which topped the 39km sprint with Nasser Al-Attiyah.

He questioned why the Japanese marque should receive a two-millimetre increase in its air restrictor diameter compared to the Peugeot, which had its restrictor reduced by one millimetre.

"We have less top power [than last year] obviously due to the restrictor," said Sainz. "Now you know completely the Toyota has 40 to 50 horsepower against us.

"Already last year Toyota was very competitive. I drove against Nasser in the Spanish Baja and Morocco with last year's restrictor, he beat me in both races. Now they've got two more [millimetres] and we've got one less."

Asked if the changes were unfair to Peugeot, he added: "Absolutely. That's what I think."

Sainz believes Dakar organisers have been too eager to penalise two-wheel drive cars like the Peugeot, which are allowed to run with a significantly lower minimum weight compared to four-wheel drive cars.

"We came here two years ago, we were losing two seconds a kilometre," said the two-time WRC champion. "Nobody overreacted about it, not even Peugeot.

"They were not asking to change the rules, [or saying] 'you cannot win with a two-wheel drive car'. We made a new car, we came here, we won and suddenly they changed the regulations.

"We have had four-wheel drive cars winning for 10, 12, 14 years without changing the regulations. It's difficult to understand why they changed it."