Friday, January 19, 2024, 12:25 | Updated 4:51 p.m.
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Carlos Sainz (Madrid, 1962) continues to fight and expand his legend as an insatiable old rocker. The 61-year-old driver from Madrid achieved his fourth Dakar Touareg with a triple historic milestone: Being the first to achieve this with an electric and hybrid car, the only one to do so with four different brands and achieving it while being the oldest. A new success to his extensive track record that makes him one of the great legends of motor racing and Spanish sports.
Carlos Sainz continues to make history in the Dakar. The Madrid native has won his fourth Touareg, his first with Audi, and becomes the first driver in history to win the raid in cars with four different teams (Volkswagen, Peugeot, Mini and Audi).
No one had achieved it to date, not even Peterhansel, Al-Attiyah or Ari Vatanen, who together with the Spaniard are the drivers with the most titles in a car.
The Dakar dream
It was 2010 when Carlos Sainz broke another barrier in Spanish sport by winning the 32nd edition of the Dakar Rally in the car category by beating his teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah to the finish line by just 2 minutes and 12 seconds. the smallest difference in history.
He did it with Volkswagen, a team with which he competed for five years, and in South America, between Argentina and Chile, where the race was held for the second consecutive time after the cancellation of the 2008 edition due to terrorist threats.
The man from Madrid was crowned at the age of 48 for the first time, with an impeccable performance in which there were no errors or unforeseen events to add to his record the two editions of the World Rally Championship (1990 and 1992) shined alongside four other runners-up in the same discipline. .
After a successful career in the World Rally Championship, Sainz announced in 2006 that his next adventure was going to be in the desert. In his first participation in the test, he not only managed to finish it but also scored four stage victories.
As for the classification, it did not go beyond eleventh place. In his second participation he slightly improved his record – ninth place and five stage wins -, while in 2009 he had to retire after falling with his car into a ravine when he was leading the competition.
The triumph of perseverance
Sainz achieved his second title in 2018, and this time he did it with Peugeot, with whom he returned to the event in 2015 and was unable to finish the 2016 and 2017 editions.
The Madrid driver masterfully managed the advantage he gained in the seventh stage in his second Touareg to win a particularly tough edition in which there were multiple abandonments and in which the dunes, altitude and adverse weather conditions turned the Dakar 2018 into an adventure extreme and in the most demanding edition of the ten held in South America. Only 57% of the participants managed to complete the test.
El Matador rose above the misfortune of other times and his rivals, especially his teammate Stéphane Peterhansel and the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah. He also had to deal with a ten-minute penalty that was later withdrawn following a complaint from quad rider Kees Koolen for not stopping after allegedly hitting the Dutchman. The judges dismissed Kees’ claims and considered that the Madrid native did not engage in improper behavior.
The Spanish driver thus added new success to his resume with the victory ahead of the Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah with more than 43 minutes advantage.
The Matador is fireproof
With his third victory in the 2020 Dakar, the first in Saudi Arabia, he surpassed his own record as the oldest winner of the event, achieving it at the age of 57. He did it at the controls of the Mini John Cooper Works Buggy, proving once again that age is just a number. That year, the Spaniard took the lead of the race in the third stage and never let go.
He performed with ease both in the fastest stages and in those that required better navigation skills. A superiority that completely banished the age debate, lifting the Matador to Olympus alongside the best car drivers of all time. «I don’t deceive anyone. “I’m not going to the Dakar to sunbathe,” he said after his victory. »I am especially excited to have won with Volkswagen, Peugeot and Mini. I think that Lucas Cruz (his co-driver) and I put a lot of effort into the car development part and winning with a third brand makes me very excited,” he said.
“When everyone thinks that Carlos is old, he hits the table and wins the Dakar,” praised his co-driver, Lucas Cruz.
An indomitable ferocity at 61 years old
His last Dakar was framed in the queen stage, when he dealt the real blow to the general classification. He left Peterhansen, Al Attiyah and Al Rajhi behind. In Yanbu, Sainz and Cruz achieved victory with the Audi RS Q e-tron. The unappealable victory of the Matador in the 46th edition, the fifth held in Saudi Arabia, also elevates Audi’s innovative project, capable of turning a hybrid prototype into a winner in just three years, a not inconsiderable milestone.
«It was a victory in a very competitive edition, with my fourth brand and a very special car. This means a lot to me, and also making history with this type of vehicle. I’m happy for Audi, it was the last bullet we had and we got it. “I am delighted and I want to thank you for all your trust,” said Sainz after the victory.
Sainz put the finishing touch to a masterful race, marked by his endurance in one of the toughest Dakars in memory in years, the toughest of those held in Saudi Arabia.
Carlos Sainz could retire at the top or continue collecting stages and rallies in any good project that comes his way. Whatever he does, the Spanish driver already has another feat to add to the list.
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2024-01-19 15:51:56
#triumphs #elevate #Sainz #Dakar #Olympus
