Two-time world rally champion Carlos Sainz, 61, has won the Dakar Rally and made two kinds of history.
Spanish Carlos Sainz61, improved the record as the oldest winner of the Dakar Rally and gassed up the car class for Audi to its first ever victory in the famous desert rally.
Sainz also made history by becoming the first driver to win the Dakar with four different car brands. Sainz’s first pot came with Volkswagen in 2010, the second with Peugeot in 2018 and the third with Mini in 2020.
In addition, Sainz’s fourth Dakar victory in his career was lifted by the Finnish rally legend Ari Vatanen side by side in the comparison of the first farms. Only French Stephane Peterhansel (eight) and Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (five) have won more Dakar rallies in the car class.
The 1990 and 1992 rally world champion did his feat only a year after breaking his back.
His son, an F1 driver, was among the first to congratulate “El Matador” at the finish line Carlos Sainz Jr., 29, as the two-week motorsport marathon reached the finish line on the Red Sea coast in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
Sainz beat the second-placed Belgian Toyota driver by an hour and 20 minutes of Guillaume de Mevius. The third place in the car class was the nine-time world rally champion, the Frenchman driving a Prodrive Sebastien Loebwho lost chances to win on Thursday due to mechanical problems.
Audi, which is expected to focus on the Formula 1 series in the future and until 2026, was only the first team to win part of the race with an electric car.
– This is a special car that has been difficult to control and make it work. I’m really happy now for Audi, said Sainz, who led the race from the sixth special stage of the Saudi Arabian Yazeed Al-Rajhin driven out.
American Honda rider Ricky Brabec won the motorcycle class for the second time. The best in the lighter Challenger class was the Spaniard Cristina Gutierrezwho became only the second German female driver to achieve the title Jutta Kleinschmidt’s story and after 2001.