When Carlos Sainz Cenamor (Madrid, April 12, 1962) is asked every year if he plans to retire and dedicate himself only to enjoying his son's career in F1, the Matador shrugs his shoulders and smiles. "I have motivation because of the passion I feel for racing, I continue to live every test, for preparation, every moment," answers the Madrid native and Real Madrid fan, a faithful follower of the philosophy of a colchonero like Cholo Simeone, match by match, rally a rally. And thus he has 17 editions of the Dakar behind him, with four absolute victories. This last one, in 2024, being the oldest winner of the legendary rally at 61 years old.
At 61 years old and in top form, with ambition intact and masterful hands, Carlos Sainz breaks the mold. The man from Madrid makes good the cliché that old rockers never die. With a herniated disc, a reconstructed Achilles tendon, a damaged shoulder and fractured T5 and T6 vertebrae in the previous Dakar (when he fell down a 20-metre dune), the eternal driver can never get enough.
Sainz has competed in his 17th Dakar (the first was in 2006, the penultimate African one) and has already won four Tuaregs (2010, 2018, 2020, 2024) with four different brands (Volkswagen, Peugeot, Mini and now Audi ), in addition to the podiums in 2021 and 2011 (he was 3rd). All the successes, together with Lucas Cruz, his faithful co-pilot, who he stole from Nani Roma in 2010.
Years go by, and Sainz is always there. And he will surely be there in 2025 (Ford has already tempted him to lead his ambitious project with Nani Roma). What moves a 61-year-old driver to continue competing, to train thoroughly, to risk his life in a race that is no walk in the park?
The passion. This is how he explained it himself: "I am the oldest to have won the race, and I would like to take that record a few years higher." He did it with 55 (in 2018), he improved with 57 (in 2020) and now raises the bar to 61. "The motivation is still intact, the day Lucas Cruz thinks we can't win he will be the first to tell me," explains the Madrid native, who has blind faith in his Catalan co-driver, Lucas Cruz, for 14 years.
The adventure of the Dakar came to Carlos Sainz when he was already mature, at 43 years old (in 2006), but when he was still behind the wheel and in the hot seat: it had been just over a year since he had retired from the WRC World Rally Championship, which He had won twice (1990 and 1992), and had resisted him a couple more times in episodes that have remained in the collective memory: the 1994 World Cup of “We screwed up, Luis”, and the 98 World Cup of “Try to tear it off”. ”, by Luis Moya.
The first two Dakars did not shine for him. It seemed that the African adventure might be a little too big for him: as happens to most drivers who come from rallies, he was very fast, but not a good navigator: he came 11th with the VW Tuareg and in 2007 he managed to finish 9th. º.
In his third Dakarian incursion (2009) the shadow of his jinx reappeared. In the first edition of the South American Dakar, after leading with authority after winning 6 of the first 10 stages and accumulating a 27-minute advantage, he suffered an accident three days from the finish line when he fell down a 4-meter ravine down a signaling error. It was his first big frustration with the race.
He returned stronger in 2010, with a new co-pilot: Lucas Cruz took over from Michel Périn, with whom he did not quite get along (or understand each other in English). With his partner from Caldes de Montbui it was a hand in glove: first Dakar together, first victory. He thus became the first Spaniard to win the Dakar in cars. He did so ahead of his then teammate Nasser Al Attiyah, whom he led by just 2m12s, the smallest gap in the history of the rally.
In the 2011 Dakar, Sainz and Cruz came close to winning. They were third, they were leaders until stage 7, but an accident on stage 11 caused them to break the front suspension after falling into a sinkhole. It was the beginning of a truly black five years, which revived the fame of jinx: from 2013 to 2017, Sainz had five abandonments in the Dakar: mechanical problems, an accident with a double turn of the bell, a breakdown in the gearbox housing and another spectacular accident. accident left the Madrid native out of the game.
Success returned in 2018, again with Lucas Cruz, and at the wheel of a powerful Peugeot 3008 DKR. The Spanish couple won with a 43-minute lead over Al Attiyah. Sainz became the oldest winner of the Dakar, at 55 years old, and eight years after his first victory.
After a Dakar 2019 in which he debuted with Mini and was denied (13th, due to a breakdown in the 3rd stage that left him stranded for 3 hours), Carlos and Lucas returned with renewed enthusiasm in the first Dakar in Saudi Arabia (2020), with the rivalry concentrated on Toyotas. With his two-wheel drive Mini he won four stages and was the leader continuously from the third special: his third Dakar came when he was 57 years old.
After the 2021 podium (3rd), Sainz joined Audi for a new challenge: to be the first winner in a hybrid car with an electric motor. He experienced a first year of breakdowns and lack of reliability of the German prototype (12th) and a second attempt with better results but accidents, in which he had to retire with two broken vertebrae, after the heroic episode of the helicopter, when he forced the pilot to go back from the hospital to the track.
In the third and final round with Audi, the Tuareg did not escape. Without winning any of the 12 stages, but with the best reliability and the fewest mishaps, Sainz won his fourth Dakar.
