Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz Cenamor (Madrid, Spain, April 12, 1962) is a Spanish rally driver. He is awarded the 2020 Princess of Asturias Award for Sports. He has been twice Spanish Rally Champion in 1987 and 1988, and twice World Rally Champion in 1990 and 1992 with Toyota, also achieving four runners-up and five third places. posts. On the other hand, he has contested fourteen editions of the Dakar Rally, winning in 2010, 2018 and 2020, and third in 2011 and 2021, being the oldest winner in the history of the race.

Considered the best Spanish rally driver in historyand the best driver in the world championship at the time of his retirement,he is loved and admired for his charisma, and chosen by journalists to get his opinion. His successes are due to his good physical condition, his sporty, professional attitude and his great competitive spirit. He is also appreciated for his great talent for preparing and transforming rally cars. He was known in the World Rally Championship with the nickname El Matador, for his strong personality and as The King among the Spanish media.

For years he was the driver who accumulated the most points in the history of the World Rally Championship (1,242); He is currently second behind Sébastien Loeb. He is the one who has participated in the most World Cup events (196), the third with the most victories (26), after Sébastien Loeb (78) and Marcus Grönholm (30), the second driver who has achieved the most podiums (97). He is the second driver who has won the greatest number of different rallies throughout history (13) and the third with the most scratchs or sections won (756). He was the first non-Nordic driver to win the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland, something that had not happened in the 40 years of existence of said event. His victories include three in the Monte Carlo Rally, three in the Acropolis Rally and one in the Safari Rally. Together with Chus Puras and Dani Sordo, he is one of the three Spanish drivers who has won a rally in the World Rally Championship. On the other hand, he has competed in fourteen editions of the Dakar Rally, finishing first in 2010, 2018 and 2020 and third in 2011 and 2021, he is currently the driver with the fourth most stage wins in the history of the race, accumulating 42.

Luis Moya was his main co-pilot. He accompanied him from 1987 to 2002, with which he achieved a Spanish championship, two world championships and twenty-four World Cup victories. He returned to race with him on several occasions, after his retirement, in 2007 to participate in the Shalymar Rally, in the 2012 and 2013 Rally de España Histórico and in the Rallylegend di San Marino from 2012 and 2013 with the zero-car Polo R WRC. In the beginning Juanjo Lacalle, who was always his manager, accompanied him on his first rallies, later he was co-driven by Antonio Boto and after the Moya's retirement, Marc Martí with whom he won the last two victories in the World Cup. During his time at the Dakar Rally he had Andy Schulz, Michel Périn, Timo Gottschalk and Lucas Cruz as co-drivers.

His son Carlos Sainz Jr. is a driver for Scuderia Ferrari in Formula 1. His brother Antonio Sainz, also a driver, competes in the Spanish Historic Rally Championship.

Biography

He was born in a Madrid clinic on Claudio Coello street, being the last of four siblings: Carmen, Elena, Toño and Carlos. He studied at the Retamar School in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) and began practicing sports at a very young age. He started skiing and at the age of seven began receiving tennis lessons, but his great passion as a child was always soccer. That hobby accompanied him throughout his life and he was able to practice in the charity games he attended. He is a fan of Real Madrid and even came to present himself as a candidate for the presidency of the white club. In his youth he practiced different sports, achieving notable results. He won a national squash title and two runners-up, tried his hand at athletics and even boxing, where he received classes from the famous Miguel Velázquez.

At the age of eleven, his older sister Carmen bought a SEAT 600 and it was the first car that Carlos was able to test drive, even if it was in the company of his sister who was in charge of the pedals and he was behind the wheel. It was his first contact with the motor world. Also in those years, together with his brother Toño, he started a collection of miniature cars that his father gave them as gifts and he soon began to be interested in the brands and models of the time. One of the first racing cars that Sainz saw firsthand. Nearby was that of Juan Carlos Oñoro, a friend of his sister Carmen, and who later would become his brother-in-law. At that time he was an official driver for Chrysler and had a Simca with which he raced alongside Juanjo Lacalle. At this time, Oñoro himself, Lacalle, his brother Toño and Carlos, got hold of a Dauphine with which they did all kinds of spins and skids in an open field near home. Those adventures ended up giving Carlos and his brother Toño the itch for racing.

At the age of sixteen, his grandfather bought him a Montesa Capra 125 and after forging the license with his father's signature, he participated in a motocross race organized at the Casa de Campo behind his family's back. One of the first forays behind the wheel of a car was on a trip organized by some friends to the Alps and on the way, Lacalle lent his Seat 131 at Sainz's request to drive him through the snow-covered mountain roads. Sainz did the entire climb on the side, impressed his friend and, taking advantage of the moment, promised him that he would be his co-driver in the first race he did.

Beginnings as a pilot

In 1980, when he had just turned eighteen, and with the Renault 5 Ts that his father had bought him, he set the goal of participating in his first rally race together with Juanjo Lacalle. This would be the Shalymar Rally that was held in the month of December of that same year. Despite the fact that one was studying law and the other was a marketing manager for a hotel chain, they managed to find the time and money to prepare the car. His families also did not help them financially and they had to stick to the basics. The R5 had second hand roll bars, seat belts, shock absorbers and brakes installed. The Shalymar, an important test at the time, was held close to the home of Sainz and Lacalle and from which they were able to take advantage of the notes that Oñoro had from having participated in previous editions. With the number 78 number on the vehicle, Sainz made his debut in a cold rally with sub-zero temperatures and they decided to alternate at the wheel, something they continued to do during the following races, for which they both acted as driver and co-driver. In the test they finished 23 and seconds in Group 1 and one of the things that caught Juanjo Lacalle's attention was Carlos' way of drawing, without making mistakes, something unusual since it was his first race.

Sainz competed in the Jarama Circuit in 1981 with a Renault 5 when he played the Renault Circuit Start.

The second test that Carlos took part in was the Subida a la Silla de Felipe II in 1981 where the snow was present and almost caused the cancellation of the race. The fifth place obtained aroused the interest of the public and the press, who echoed the result, both for Carlos and Antonio, his brother who had finished second. At that time, Sainz and Lacalle set their next goal in rallies: the recently launched Seat Panda National Cup. The problem, as always, continued to be financing, so Juanjo decided to extend the mortgage on his apartment that had been bought, so they adjusted his shares to the maximum. They only ran four tests of the Cup, the minimum mandatory and they had their hopes in the last one, the Shalymar, which they already knew and scored twice. They won in all four races: Critérium Luis de Baviera, Rally Ciudad de Segovia, Rally de Málaga and Shalymar. They had tough rivals like César Argenta, Jordi Franquesa or Roland Holke who fought for the victory until the end. They won the Cup and the car was automatically left in the hands of the preparer Meycom, one of the most important of the time in Spain, with whom they continued to compete with a small program throughout the year, they maintained the formula of exchanging behind the wheel and with the money they obtained from the prizes was used to finance the next race. That same year (1981) Sainz became interested in circuits and since he already had the Panda for rallies, he left the R5 for the tracks with which he faced the Renault Initiation Cup. This Cup was held with three races at the Calafat circuit (Tarragona), four at Jarama and one in Estoril (Portugal). He played only the tests that were held on Spanish soil due to lack of budget and achieved a victory in Calafat and finished runner-up behind Rafa Ochoa.

Carlos Sainz and Juanjo Lacalle used a Group 2 Seat Panda during 1982.

Season 1982

In 1982 Sainz traveled to the Isola 2000 ski resort invited by Seat where he competed against other drivers, also winners of competitions with the most renowned Spanish brand, but which he won and earned recognition from José Juan Pérez de Vargas, Seat team leader, who was convinced by the Madrid's performances to give him an official group 2 Panda, which had been used a year earlier by Rizos Muñoz. From then on they became official drivers and they decided that Carlos would drive and Juanjo would be in charge of co-driving. Their performances throughout the year with the Panda, which yielded only 75 hp, earned them fame on the national scene. Española, who together with Antonio Zanini received all the ovations, later it would be in Talavera where they set very good times, always against opponents with much superior mechanics, always taking advantage of the downhill areas or when rain or fog made an appearance, where courage was worth more than mechanics. The last two races of the year were the CS Rally and the Shalymar, which that year were points for the European. One of the most important performances of the year was in the Santa Teresa Rally, where they raced with a rented Seat 124 FU 16v, which had belonged to Lucas Sainz and which had a more powerful engine with which they managed to lead the race for two first sections, until in the third a breakdown forced them to abandon. Apart from the rallies, he again competed in the Renault 5 Initiation Cup, this time without the need to finance himself and achieved five victories in seven races that he contested against Jaime Carbonell who made things very difficult for him and with whom he had some touch. However, he was proclaimed champion in the penultimate test.

Season 1983

In 1983, Renault trusted Sainz and in addition to counting on him for the Renault National Cup, the next step in the circuits, for rallies he prepared a 200 hp Renault 5 Turbo to compete in the Castilla Rally Championship. Despite the bad start, with a retirement due to a breakdown in the Talavera Rally, he achieved victory in the three events of the Challenge Center, in the Summer Rally (Soria), Alcalá de Henares Rally, Harvest Rally, Rally San Mateo and Las Peñucas Rally (Santander) where he was proclaimed champion ahead of his brother Toño. In addition to the regional ones, he took part in some qualifying tests for the national or European ones, such as the Critérium Luis de Baviera, where he finished third behind Genito Ortiz and Beny Fernández, the first official Renault driver. He participated again in the Shalymar, where he fought for the victory against Beny Fernández and Juan Carlos Oñoro, until he suffered a rollover due to the intercoms that prevented him from hearing the notes properly. The accident was so strong that at that very moment Juanjo Lacalle decided to retire from racing. Sainz's performances earned him the support of the press who demanded an opportunity beyond the regional championship, he also participated again in the Federation's Rallisprint with the circuit R5 where he finished second and received an award for spectacularity from the media. As for the circuits, that year he made the leap to the Renault National Cup, with a Renault 5 Turbo where he spent the year in a constant duel with the Segovian driver Luis López de la Cámara. Except in Alcañiz where Sainz won without problems in all the other races he had to do with Luis, although despite everything he achieved five victories out of seven races that he contested. His great season allowed him to compete in the Formula Ford Festival representing Spain where he competed with a single-seater reaching the quarterfinals. He also ran in the 2 hours of Jarama, Renault's final season party, together with Genito Ortiz who could only reach fifth place due to poor refuelling.

Season 1984

Antonio Boto replaced Lacalle in the co-pilot work for the 1984 season. In the Boto image during a race in 2012.

In the 1984 season he repeated the program with Renault, but Antonio Boto competed at his side instead of Lacalle who did the work of team coordinator. In rallies he participated again in the Castilla Championship, winning the six events that he ran and participated in more renowned events that began to give him publicity and gain a reputation as a good driver. The first test of the year was the RACE Rally where he finished fifth after Carlo Capone, Zanini, Beny Fernández and Jimmy McRae, then he ran the Critérium Guilleries where he had to retire when he was fourth due to a puncture. He also competed in the Luis de Baviera Critérium in an edition that had passed through the water and his appearances earned him an offer from General Motors to run the Cataluña Rally with an official Opel Manta. finishing in second position behind Salvador Servià and ahead of Genito who was driving an official Renault. After this result, Renault gave him an official car for the last event of the year, the Valeo Rally, where he achieved victory despite running with a broken gearbox. On the circuits that year, Sainz focused on the Spanish Production Touring Car Championship and, on the other hand, he turned to Ford to be able to compete in the British Formula Ford 2000 that took place in the summer. Despite the impossibility of supporting him in his participation abroad, Ford proposed a program on national circuits aboard a Ford Escort XR3. With that car he managed to get on the podium in Toledo and Calafat and was fourth and fifth in Jarama. However, he continued to seek support for his adventure in England and ended up getting sponsorship from Marlboro and the ABC newspaper, which allowed him to compete in Formula 2000 with discreet results, but it helped him to get to know the environment of international competitions.

Spanish Rally Championship

Season 1985

Sainz ran as an official Renault pilot at the Spanish Championship in 1985 and 1986 with a Renault 5 Maxi Turbo. In some tests, he got upset with it. Renault 5 Tour de Corse.

In 1985 Sainz received an offer from Opel and another from Renault to run as an official driver, who in the end opted for the French firm that offered him a more complete program, also maintained a good relationship with the Renault dealer, who visited frequently, and with Genito Ortiz, pilot of the brand. That year he faced the Spanish Rally Championship with an official Renault 5 Tour de Corse with which he would achieve good results. The first rally he decided to sign up for would be the Costa Brava Rally, but he suffered an attack of appendicitis and had to undergo emergency surgery, so he missed the event. The first event he took part in then was the RACE Costa Blanca Rally, which was also eligible for the European Championship. He finished in fifth place and ahead of all the Spanish drivers, with the exception of Salvador Servià, who had finished second. The next test was the Guilleries Critérium where he had the first of the many confrontations that he would have throughout the year with Servià. The Catalan driver knew the rally very well, so he took the victory and Sainz was second. The same result was in the Sierra Morena Rally where Servià won again and Sainz finished behind. After these attempts, Renault decided to introduce the Renault 5 Maxi Turbo, a more powerful model to be able to beat Servià, but just before this happened, Sainz achieved his first victory in the Spanish championship, winning the Vasco Navarro Rally with just one second behind. advantage over Servià. However, victory was not easy since a section suffered aquaplaning that wreaked havoc on the front of the car and the mechanics had to work hard to put it together again. The next test to be held was the Villa de Llanes Rally where Sainz He made his debut with the Renault 5 Maxi Turbo and had a duel with Bruno Saby who was competing with an official Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, and when the Spaniard was only eleven seconds behind the Frenchman he left the road and had to retire. The next two rounds were held in the Canary Islands, where the team decided to return to the R5 Tour de Corse after the poor result with the Maxi Turbo. On this occasion, Sainz was luckier and achieved two victories on the islands, first in the Islas Canarias Rally and then in the El Corte Inglés Rally. After the good results obtained, Renault decided to make Carlos debut in the Madeira Rally, a foreign test that added points for the national championship. However, Sainz's adventure was short and he had to retire in the first stage due to a poorly closed plug that caused him to lose all the water in the radiator. After the summer, the team moved to Asturias to compete in the Príncipe de Asturias Rally where Sainz played part of the championship. In the La Encrucijada section he lost five minutes and despite the subsequent comeback he could only be second behind Servià. In the next test, the San Froilán Rally, the pressure was greater. The team decided to bring out the Maxi Turbo again, a car that was difficult to drive and had not yet completed its set-up, and the decision was clearly wrong: Sainz saved several spins until one of them went off the road. His abandonment gave Servià victory and the Spanish championship.The last event of the year was the Valeo Rally, which Sainz already knew, which entered the national calendar for the first time. Again a puncture prevented Carlos from taking the victory, but he managed to finish third and take the runner-up spot. That year his only participation in circuits was in the 500 Kilometers of Jarama where he competed with an Alfa GTV together with Jesús Díez Villarroel but they had to leave due to a breakdown.

Season 1986

In 1986 Sainz once again faced the Spanish championship as an official Renault driver. That year they worked hard during the pre-season to evolve the R5 Maxi Turbo. In those days, Sainz earned the fame of a perfectionist. His chief engineer, Hermenegildo Baylos, would go crazy when, after a hard day's work, Sainz wanted to start over, which meant staying up all night. In the first race of the year, the Costa Brava, where the snow made an appearance, Sainz excelled with the Maxi Turbo and finished second behind Fabrizio Tabaton's Lancia Delta S4, but ahead of Servià, which placed him first in the Spanish championship. The second appointment was the RACE Costa Blanca Rally, where Sainz once again faced Tabaton, but withdrew due to engine failure. Added to his abandonment was that of Tabaton, who left Servià free to win. The team then packed their bags and went to France to play the Garrigues Rally, a test that added points for the national championship, invited by Renault France. There Sainz prevailed against the local driver François Chatriot, leading the race until he had to retire due to a broken gearbox. Taking advantage of his stay in the French country, Carlos played a rallisprint in the town of Nimes, a test that was only for exhibition.

Back in Spain, the Sierra Morena Rally was held with a Maxi Turbo assembled entirely on Spanish soil and where he achieved victory against Antonio Zanini's Ford RS 200, which had four-wheel drive, in front of Sainz's rear. The next test was the Villa de Llanes Rally where Sainz crashed with his Maxi Turbo when the Fito was descending and had to abandon. For his part, Servià won the event and became the leader of the championship. After the Asturian event, the two tests in the Canary Islands were held, where Sainz added a retirement in the Islas Canarias Rally, which Servià did not run due to lack of budget, and a victory in the El Corte Inglés Rally, where a duel was seen again between Sainz and Servià. After going very even in the first stages, Servià went away, leaving the victory to his rival, who once again beat Zanini, who was taking over the RS200. After the Canaries, the team moved back to Madeira, where bad luck accompanied Carlos when a small fire in the engine forced him to retire.

After the summer, the Príncipe de Asturias was held, where the Italian Tabaton won with his Delta S4 and Sainz achieved second place, which was enough for him to still maintain his options for the title. However, in Lugo, Servià won again, while Carlos was unable to finish due to a broken turbo. Servià's third place in the next round, Catalonia, was enough for him to proclaim himself champion of Spain for the second time, with Sainz second who saw the national title slipping away from him again. The last test of the year was the Valeo Rally where Carlos achieved victory and then rumors spread that the team could travel to the United States to play the Olympus Rally that could give them the necessary points to win the championship, but Renault dismissed such a possibility. due to its high economic cost. However, to please Sainz, the brand let him run two gravel championship rallies, the Pals Rally, where he finished second behind José María Servià (Salvador's brother) and first in the Madrid Rally, which was a good farewell with the brand, since in 1987 he would sign for Ford.

Debut in the World Cup and champion of Spain

With the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth Sainz was finally able to achieve the title of Spanish champion in 1987 with Antonio Boto at his side. The following year I would repeat title, that time with Luis Moya.

Season 1987

In 1987, after the prohibition of group B the previous year, Sainz had to decide between continuing with Renault, which offered him to compete in the season with the new Renault 11 Turbo, and Ford's offer, which offered him to compete with the Ford Sierra Cosworth in addition to guaranteeing participation in the World Cup. Sainz signed with the oval brand and in January he attended the Monte Carlo Rally together with Carmelo Ezpeleta, Juan Celada, Antonio Boto and Juanjo Lacalle to witness Ford's participation in the world championship and closely observe Karl's Ford Sierra Grundel, a model similar to the one he would use that year. The season began at the Costa Brava Rally where he had to abandon after several problems. In one of the sections the ouvriers made a mistake and mounted studded tyres, which caused Sainz to lose a minute and a half. Despite this, he came back and took four minutes from Servià, who that year was running with an official Volkswagen Golf, but later he found a Civil Guard car and another from the organization and to this was added the breakage of the conical group which finally gave up. The second event of the year was Carlos' debut in the world championship: the Rally de Portugal. The race could not have started better by setting the best time in the first section that was held at the Estoril circuit. He would achieve another scratch in the sixth section (Prestimo), but had to retire in the eighth after the turbo broke, when he was third overall. The result left a bittersweet taste for Sainz, but what worried him the most was Jean Ragnotti's second place with the Renault 11 that he had rejected.

The third event of the year was the Playa de Aro Rally in which Sainz again added another retirement. On the eve of the race he suffered a blow with the car of the driver Jesús Saiz that left the Sierra battered, for which they had to resort to the muleto but it could not hold and in the first section it burned the cylinder head gasket. The next race was the Sierra Morena Rally, which Sainz did not attend since it coincided with training for the Córcega Rally. In France, after a series of setbacks: breakages, oil leaks, etc., he managed to finish in seventh position and add thus the first points (4) in the world championship. However, again another car, Bernard Begin's BMW M3, would finish ahead of him, the same one that Pep Bassas used that year in the Spanish championship.

Carlos's bad luck began to change in the Cajalicante Rally, where he achieved his first victory of the year and prevailed over Servià, who would again be his great rival that year. He would repeat the feat by prevailing in a wet Llanes Rally and in the two Canary events (Corte Inglés and Islas Canarias) where he won against a José María Ponce who was the most serious rival. After the summer he continued his winning streak with victory in the Príncipe de Asturias Rally and in the San Froilán Rally. In the Cataluña Bassas Rally he needed victory to keep his chances for the title alive but despite Sainz's abandonment, the victory went to Dario Cerrato, a result that earned Carlos to proclaim himself champion of Spain for the first time.

In the last rally of the year, the Valeo, Sainz achieved the seventh victory of the year, which was disputed with some gravel sections that allowed the team to test ahead of the Great Britain Rally, the last event of the year. Their training sessions coincided with the Valeo Rally, so they could not attend and one of the solutions was to record the stages on video. Despite this, Sainz managed to finish in eighth position where he managed to set times close to those of Stig Blomqvist who finished second with an official Ford Sierra.

In England, Boto told Sainz that he would stop being his co-driver and would become sports director of Opel Spain, although before his retirement he took part in the Madrid Grain Rally with a Ford RS200 where they achieved victory and was the last race with Boto on his right. Before the end of the season, Sainz played in the Attilio Bettega Memorial where he managed to be a finalist, and in December, he set out to find a substitute for Boto. After shuffling several names, he was left with two: Perico García and Luis Moya. As the first was not available and Moya had several rallies to his credit and was fluent in English, Sainz signed him on Christmas day, and he became his co-driver with whom he would share a long and successful sporting career.

Sainz competed with Boto for the last time at the Madrid Earth Rally in 1987 in a Ford RS200 that had belonged to Antonio Zanini. He achieved victory in the first participation of his career with this vehicle. In 1988 he won again with him in the land championship.

Season 1988

Luis Moya was the co-pilot chosen to replace Boto in 1988.

The 1988 season began with the Rally Cataluña, where he maintained a duel with Bruno Saby's delta that was imposed in the sections of land, after Sainz's Domino in the first measures that were running on asphalt, and ended up winning The rally with broad difference over Spanish. However, the second position was worth the leadership of the Spanish Championship. The second race of the year was the Portugal rally where he planned to compete with the official Ford team, but because of a strike, he had to do it with the Spanish subsidiary. Sainz suffered again the same bad luck as the previous year and had to leave after the breakage of his engine when he was third.

Back to the National Sainz contest won the championship with two clear wins, first in the Sierra Morena and then in the Aro Playa Rally. In the first he discovered that this year his true opponent would not serve if not Pep Bassas and in the second, where he ran sick, he did not celebrate the victory due to a fatal accident where José María Hernández Pedroche died, a pilot who played the test with a Renault 5 GT Turbo. The next World Cup appointment was the Rally of Corsica where Sainz had problems with the turbo, suffered a puncture and ran with the used tires of Didier Auriol, who won the test with an official Ford Sierra. However, the Spanish achieved the fifth position, improving the seventh place of the previous year. Like the previous year, Sainz managed to rent a RS200 Ford to participate in the Spanish Rally Championship. He left in Catalonia, won in La Rioja and Avilés and also participated the Low Aragon with Carmelo Azpeleta where after several breaks he had to leave. In the asphalt contest, meanwhile, he participated in the Llanes rally where he had one of the abandonments More premature from his entire career. He came out in the first curve of the first section, in the same way as Fernando Capdevila with his BMW. The next world race was the Rally Mil Lagos, which ran on land, the worst land for the rear of the Sierra. In the test they were imposed as always, the Nordics, where the third place in Auriol stood out with a mountain range and the sixth position of Sainz, which did not go unnoticed by Finnish pilots.

Back in Spain, Sainz faced Álex Fiorio's Delta in the Princesa de Asturias Rally, who proved superior in the slippery Asturian stages against Sierra. Even so, Carlos finished second, taking into account that he had problems with the alternator, the battery and even had his hood open in the middle of the stage. After the asphalt test, he competed in Toledo, a gravel event, where he withdrew after a distribution failure. But Sainz's big moment that year came at the Sanremo Rally. After the setback he suffered due to the signing of Auriol by Lancia and after hearing Cesare Fiorio's statements considering him only fast on asphalt, in the Italian test, the home of the enemy, Sainz went all out. He set several scratch times and led the test in the first two days and the local press dubbed it "Sainz cat's eyes" due to its speed in the foggy closed night sections. He finished in fifth position and after the test he received a call from Marion Bell, the wife of Ove Andersson, Toyota boss at the time, a call that was going to change his destiny. he took the victory ahead of Fabrizio Tabaton and was proclaimed champion of Spain for the second time. The last event of the year was the Valeo Rally and the director of Ford, Tomás Cavanna, decided that he would not go as a punishment for having signed for Toyota, but the pressure and media uproar allowed Sainz to finally take the start, although he had to leave in the first stretch. The last World Cup event was the RAC, an edition where the snow made an appearance and where Sainz finished in seventh position. The end of the season was at the Rally de Tierra de Madrid, where one of the stages was going to be televised, but just before Sainz got there, his engine broke and the spectators could not see the Spaniard on television, the which would be Carlos's last race before the definitive jump to the world championship.

Toyota: jump to the world championship

Season 1989

Swedish Ove Andersson, director of Toyota, was the architect that Sainz signed by the Nippon brand in 1989. After the good performance at the Rally San Remo in 1988 he called him to offer him a contract as an official pilot.

In 1989 Sainz and Moya would be the third Toyota car, which together with Juha Kankkunen and Kenneth Eriksson would form the official team of the Japanese brand to compete in the World Championship. Before the start of the season, the team carried out several tests with the Toyota Celica in the Alps ahead of the Monte Carlo Rally, the second event of the year, since Carlos would not attend Sweden. Monte Carlo began, as always, with the concentration route and Sainz started from Barcelona. It was very slippery due to the snow, Sainz got out and was forced to abandon. His teammate Kankkunen went off at the same point, but was able to get back on the road and finish the rally in fifth position. The winner was Miki Biasion in an edition marked by the death of Lars Erik Torph.

The next test was Portugal, the place where Sainz had debuted in the world championship and, as in the past, he set the best time in Estoril and Montejunto and came to be the leader. However, a puncture took him away from the top positions and he had to attack in the night sections that were also covered in fog. On the gravel sections he once again set the best times, but on day four a bad tire setting caused the Celica to leave, which ended up crashing into a tree, adding up to Sainz's second retirement of the year. The next appointment was the Rally of Córcega and during training Carlos suffered renal colic that forced him to travel to Spain to undergo surgery, luckily he was able to return in time to start. In Córcega, Sainz received the good news that the FIA confirmed him as a category A driver, which allowed him to start in the leading group. Regarding the race, the team was cautious and asked its drivers not to risk and try to finish. Bad luck was primed with Sainz who saw how his Toyota broke his engine during a link.

The next race was the Acropolis Rally where Sainz made his debut. In the tough Greek test, the Celica once again paid for their unreliability and fell again one after the other. Despite everything, the Spanish driver tried to finish the race and after climbing positions and setting the best time in several sections, he saw his Celica break its front suspension and forced him to retire in a test where no Toyota could finish.. The rally was won by Biasion, who achieved his fourth consecutive victory of the year and was the clear favorite for the crown. With four retirements, Lacalle warned Sainz of the need to achieve a good result.

Toyota Celica ST165 that Björn Waldegård used in 1988. It would be the same model that Sainz and Moya would use in 1989, their first year with Toyota.

Sainz did not go to Argentina, so his next race was the 1000 Lakes Rally where he started on the right foot, setting the best time in the section that passed through Laukaa, the birthplace of his teammate Juha Kankkunen. In the following sections he came to be second and began to hear a noise in the Celica that was not entirely fine. Then Kankkunen had to abandon due to a fire in his car when he was leading and behind him, another Finn Ari Vatanen broke the engine which gave Sainz the first place. When he was first, the Spaniard had a flat tire that put him back three minutes and despite setting the best times on the last day, he could only be third behind Mikael Ericsson and Timo Salonen. All in all, third place in Finland was a breath of fresh air after the poor results obtained in the first races. The next appointment was Australia, which the Spaniard did not attend, but during it Kankkunen won the first race with the Celica and announced his signing by Lancia for the following year, which made Sainz the first Toyota driver.. For the Sanremo Rally, he prepared the car for asphalt, where it was clearly inferior to the Lancia Delta. Sainz's strategy during the test was to attack on the gravel sections to gain an advantage over the asphalt specials where. Luck seemed to be with the Spaniard, who came to lead in part thanks to the mishaps of his rivals, but a fault in the accelerator cable sent him to third place, finishing only twenty-five seconds behind the winner, who was again Biasion.

Back in Spain, Marlboro contacted Toyota so that Carlos could carry out two tests on his land and the chosen ones were: El Corte Inglés and Valeo. With a Celica decorated differently from that of the world championship, the driver won both events, beating the Lancia Delta of Tabaton and Fiorio. The last race of the year was the Great Britain Rally, which Sainz knew well and which he began by winning in the first stage and becoming the provisional leader. At the end of the day he was fourth behind three Toyotas, to the joy of the brand. On the second day, Sainz had a duel with Kankkunen, but a failure in the Finn's alternator left the way clear for the Spaniard, who decided to go all out. The pilot Pentti Airikkala, who knew the test well, left at the head of the race and began to set the best times one stage after another. That was when the Spaniard decided to penalize his rival so that his rival would start earlier and thus follow his line and not lose time, a strategy that worked for him, he set the best time and was the leader with an advantage of twenty-five seconds with one stage to go. When everything seemed that the first victory was going to come, in the Dalby section the Celica's center differential broke, which sent them to second position, behind Airikkala and no one could console the Spanish couple that the result on Welsh gravel turned out for them more bitter than sweet, because of how close they had come to victory. The last event of the year was the Champions Race that was held at the Nürburgring and which Sainz attended for the first time and where he not only had to abandon due to a rollover, but also suffered some injuries.

Season 1990

With the Toyoya Celica ST165 Sainz achieved in 1990 his first world rally title, the first for a Spanish specialty pilot.

The championship began in the Monte Carlo Rally, with the absence of snow, so it was held on almost dry asphalt. The rally was a duel between Auriol and Sainz, who after the first twenty-two stages were tied for the lead. On the last night, in Turini, Auriol prevailed with his Lancia Delta Integrale against which Sainz could do nothing with his Celica. Toyota filed a claim alleging that the Lancia's turbo had been tampered with, but it was dismissed by the stewards. Third was Biasion with the Delta, far from his partner and the Spaniard.

After Monte Carlo, the Rally de Portugal took place. The race became a battle of attrition dominated by the Lancias of Biasion, Auriol and Kankkunen who took the three places on the podium, while the rest of the participants fell one by one. In the first sections, which were run on asphalt, Schwarz was able to lead, although he ended up retiring. Biasion then overtook Sainz to take first to the finish, while Vatanen's and Eriksson's Mitsubishis blew their engines, and Sainz himself subsequently retired with a broken transmission, leaving Toyota with no points in Portugal.

In the Safari Rally things were different. Toyota sent Sainz, Ericsson and the Swede Bjorn Waldegard, who already knew what it was like to win the African event with a Celica. Lancia lost all its pilots who did not resist the hard test and only Kankkunen was able to finish the test, with a second place, but very far from the winner: Waldegard. Third was the other Celica, Erikson and fourth Sainz completed a good result for the Japanese brand. In the Córcega Rally there was another great duel between Auriol and Sainz, who were emerging as the favorites for the title. At the start of the rally, the Corsican Yves Loubet dominated the event, but a mechanical problem took him away from the lead. Auriol took advantage and took the lead, against a Sainz who was on the verge of being left out when he came face to face with a spectator's car in the middle of the stage. With three stages to go, the Frenchman broke the front differential of his Delta, but the mechanics changed the part in time and Auriol took victory with a lead of just 38 seconds. Sainz finished third and from then on he would not get off the podium for the rest of the season. The next test was the Acropolis Rally.

In Greece, Sainz dominated the event from start to finish, only closely followed by Kankkunen, while Auriol finished out of the race. The Spaniard won the rally, which would be the first victory in his World Cup career and gave a coup of authority, placing himself as the championship leader with five points over Auriol. In New Zealand, Carlos Sainz won again, in a test where they were not The Lancia were present, since it was not eligible for the championship of brands. In Argentina, Biasion won, followed by Sainz who managed to save second place despite having rolled, and third Auriol who was left far behind due to an engine problem at the beginning of the rally. The next appointment would be the Rally of Finland, which Sainz faced as the solid leader of the championship with 95 points, followed by Auriol with 67 and Biasion with 64.

In Finland, the Spaniard had a tough fight with Vatanen, who was competing with a Mitsubishi Galant VR-4, and whom he was behind throughout the race, always with a difference of less than half a minute. Sainz withstood the pressure from the Finn and ended up winning with a lead of just 19 seconds and also became the first non-Nordic driver to win in Finland. Third was Eriksson also in a Galant and fourth was Alén in the Subaru Legacy. The next round was Australia, where Lancia sent Kankkunen, who had won the previous year, and an Auriol that he ended up abandoning, leaving him with little chance of fighting for the drivers' championship. After the initial dominance of Eriksson, who led the race until he broke the clutch on his Mitsubishi, Kankkunen took the lead and won, with Carlos Sainz in second position and only one more point needed to become world champion. The next test was the Sanremo Rally in which Toyota was obliged to get a good result if it wanted to keep the options for the manufacturers' championship alive. Sainz dominated the test keeping Biasion and Auriol at bay, until in the last section he went off the road, losing the lead and dropping to third position. Biasion, who was confused when he saw Sainz's anorak, went off a few meters ahead and gave the victory to Auriol, who won ahead of Kankkunen. Sainz's third place earned him the title of world champion, while the points obtained by Auriol's and Kankkunen's Delta gave Lancia the manufacturers' championship, so the party in San Remo was double, Lancia and Toyota celebrated every one its title: the Italians their fourth consecutive championship and the Japanese brand the first in its history. The last test of the year and with nothing to be decided, was the Rally of Great Britain. The Spaniard, with the title in his pocket and where a mechanical problem had left him out of the race the previous year, came out on top, first pressing Alén until he gave up, then Kankkunen who led the race until a skid on a The frozen zone sent him out of the race, achieving the first victory on British soil for a Latino driver.

Season 1991

Sainz at Rally Argentina in 1991.

Sainz faced the 1991 season as world champion again with Toyota and with Schwarz and Ericsson as teammates and with Kankkunen as his main rival, again at Lancia. The year started as usual with the Monte Carlo Rally, which almost did not take place due to the Gulf War. In the Monegasque event, where tires are key, the Spaniard started by choosing slicks, a decision that benefited him and allowed him to lead the event from the start. As the race progressed, the Frenchman François Delecour, who was doing his first world championship race with the Ford Sierra Cosworth 4x4, got into the fight for victory and took the lead after an error in the choice of tires in the Sisteron section for part of Sainz. Subsequently, the Toyota driver suffered a spin and gave up several seconds, so with one stage to go he decided to secure second place. Unfortunately for Delecour, in the last section, the Col de Turini, a suspension bolt came loose. Despite this, he decided not to stop and kept running until he ended up going off and losing four minutes. In this way, Sainz took the first victory of his career in the Monegasque event. Sainz did not go to Sweden, where Kenneth Eriksson won, and in Portugal during the recce he suffered an accident where the worst stop was his co-driver Luis Moya who crashed. cut in one hand. In the early stages he took the lead until his teammate Schwarz relieved him that he was the fastest on the asphalt sections. Then it started to snow and both the German and Delecour who were leading went off the road. Before contesting the gravel sections, Biasion and Auriol remained in front while Sainz was in third place. Under heavy rain the Spaniard began to attack and was first with Auriol very close. The Frenchman came to reduce the advantage in fifteen seconds, and even when Sainz had problems with the transmission, he suffered two spins in a row that forced him to retire and allowed the Spaniard to achieve the second consecutive victory of the year. The next appointment was the Safari Rally where Sainz prepared himself thoroughly to avoid the mistakes of the previous year and even ran over a giraffe during recce. During the first stage of the race, he took the lead despite having to push Jorge Recalde's Lancia, which punctured and did not let the Spaniard pass. Soon his teammate Björn Waldegaard moved into second and when he tried to put pressure on Sainz he flipped losing all his chances. His next rival was Juka Kankkunen who overtook him in the fourth stage due to vibration problems after a screw broke. Despite this setback, Sainz took the lead again and finished the day leading with a four-minute lead. However in the next stage the Celica broke a connecting rod and allowed Kankkunen to take the victory. After the African event, the Rally de Córcega was held, where the French drivers played a leading role. Armin Schwarz initially led the event, with François Delecour in second position and Sainz third, but in the second stage the Spaniard suffered turbo problems and penalized one minute at a time control. From there he began to climb positions while his teammate withdrew and left Auriol and Delecour in the lead. Before starting the last stage, Sainz was third, just nineteen seconds behind his rivals. Soon Delecour abandoned due to a breakdown in his car and Auriol could not do anything to defend his position and ended up giving in for more than a minute. In this way, Carlos climbed to the top of the podium for the third time in the season and was the leader of the championship with double the points of his immediate follower. After the Corsican event, the Acropolis Rally was held, where the first duel between Sainz and Kankkunen took place. Despite the fact that the Spaniard led the test from start to finish, at the last moment the man from Lancia took the victory, which raised the suspicions of many, for which the Italian brand itself had to give explanations, alleging that Kankkunen had left Sainz to open the track so as not to have a disadvantage. Despite this, the Spaniard added his fourth podium and continued to lead the world championship. After this the teams moved to New Zealand, where Lancia registered its drivers to avoid the victory it had achieved the previous year. Although the Toyota Celica gave Sainz a bit of a scare – a stone had gotten into the brake – he dominated the event without any problems and claimed his fourth victory of the year. In Argentina, Lancia sent four drivers who soon took the lead. Sainz, who had broken a tire in the third stage, had to push and on the second day set the best time in five stages, but again another mechanical problem, this time the Celica's new turbo, caused him to lose several seconds. Fortunately for him, Juha Kankkunen was left out of the game after accumulating a lot of timepenalty which allowed Sainz to rise to third place. In the last section of the penultimate stage, the Spaniard took the lead with only a second advantage over Biasion and ten over Auriol. The first to fall was the Frenchman, leaving Sainz and Biasion in the fight for the victory that would ultimately go to the Toyota man. In Finland Sainz led the race from the start, then he was passed by Markku Alén but soon regained the position with Juha Kankkunen just twelve seconds away. He increased his advantage to twenty-two seconds but in a low that he took in sixth, the Celica went off and sank Sainz in the classification. Kankkunen took the victory at home while the Spaniard was fourth.

Celica GT-Four de Sainz-Moya de San Remo 1991.

In the Rally Australia he suffered numerous mishaps. He lost a lot of time after a bad suspension setup dropped him to seventh, then rolled and later at the Bunnings complex he overcut a corner and the Celica was thrown several times over. Although both Sainz and Moya were unharmed, the Spaniard added the first retirement of the year. The victory went again to Kankkunen who since then became the main rival in the fight for the drivers' title. In San Remo and after Kankkunen abandoned by accident, Sainz had problems with the Celica's transmission that only allowed him to be sixth. The podium was taken by three Lancia drivers who secured the manufacturers' title for the Italian brand. The next appointment that Sainz played was the Catalunya Rally, for the first time scoring for the world championship, which was noted by the massive influx of public. He finished second after the first stage, but at the beginning of the second the Celica did not want to start and after two hours and a quarter the assistance arrived with a new control unit, but it was too late because they had exceeded the maximum penalty time. In this way Sainz lost the leadership of the world championship, with one test to go, with second place achieved by Kankkunen in Catalonia. The Great Britain Rally Kankkunen initially led the event, then Sainz took the lead but problems with his Celica allowed him to overtake, first Auriol, later Kankkunen himself —after the Frenchman left the track— and finally Kenneth Eriksson. In this way, the Spaniard finished in third position and saw how his rival, Juha Kankkunen, took the victory in Wales and the drivers' title. Before the end of the year, the Race of Champions was held for the first time in Spain, specifically at the Jarama circuit where Didier Auriol eliminated Sainz in the first round after hitting some tires that delimited the track.

Season 1992

Carlos Sainz with the Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD (ST185) during the Rally of Catalonia.

The 1992 season began in Monte Carlo where he debuted with the new bodywork of the Toyota Celica GT4. Frenchman Auriol made a mistake in choosing his tires in the Sisteron stage losing three minutes, but managed to come back, took the lead and ended up winning, ahead of Sainz and Kankkunen. The three leading drivers from the previous year once again prevailed over the rest of the drivers, demonstrating that another year they would be the candidates for the title. The next rally was Portugal where again there was a duel between the Toyotas and the Lancias. This time, however, the Celica were not up to the task, they suffered from engine and suspension problems. Sainz had to settle for a third place that was even overtaken by Biasion's Ford Sierra. Kankkunen won the rally while his teammate had to retire due to an engine problem when he was leading. After Portugal, the Safari Rally took place and Toyota this time without Waldergard, since they had signed for Lancia, they won thanks to Sainz who dominated the test and won ahead of the two Lancias of Kankkunen and the Argentine Recalde, who gave up his second place to the Finn and thus tied Sainz with 47 points in the world championship standings. In Córcega the Lancias did not fail, taking first and third place thanks to the Frenchmen Auriol and Bugalski, with a Delecour in the middle who could do nothing with his Ford Sierra against the Auriol Delta. For their part, the Toyotas had problems with the Pirelli tires on the Corsican asphalt that were destroyed in the middle of the stage, so Sainz and Schwarz finished in fourth and fifth position. Nevertheless, Sainz was the leader after Córcega, since Kankkunen had not attended the appointment and increased his lead by ten points against the Finn.

Following the Corsica Rally, Sainz made a small pavilion to marry Reyes Vázquez. The ceremony was held in the church of the Jerónimos of Madrid, attended by drivers and personalities of the world of the engine such as Juha Kankkunen, Markku Alén, Ari Vatanen and Ove Andersson and personalities of the political and cultural life of then as the case of Adolfo Suárez.

In Greece, Auriol set a great pace and won by dominating the rally from start to finish, with Kakkunen second and Biasion third with Sierra. The three Toyotas of Sainz, Alén and Schwarz were left out of the race by accident. In New Zealand Sainz achieved his second victory of the year, in an appointment where the only official teams present were Toyota and Subaru, the latter with a poor result since McRae and Vatanen withdrew due to mechanical problems. In this way, the Spaniard prevailed, achieving 25 scratch times out of 38 disputed sections and once again positioned himself as the world leader. The Frenchman Auriol, who had won three rallies, prevailed in the following three races: Argentina, Finland and Australia, placing himself in the lead and breaking the record for events won in a World Cup season. In Argentina he won with a Sainz second, where the Celica began to work on gravel; in Finland against a Kankkunen who pushed him to the end, remaining only 40 seconds behind, and an Alén who achieved his only podium all year; and in Australia again ahead of Kankkunen and Sainz who accompanied him on the podium. However, the Frenchman's luck was going to change in the final stretch of the championship. It was enough for Auriol to put in good performances in the three races that remained to be contested since the three drivers who were playing for the title did not attend the Ivory Coast. For his part, Sainz had not gone to Finland and neither would he go to the Ivory Coast and San Remo, which was dedicated in the final part of the calendar to rest and evolve the Celica. With the brands title decided in Finland, the only thing What remained was to know who of the first three would win the drivers' championship. In San Remo, without the Toyotas, Auriol broke a wheel that put him out of the race very soon, Aghini's Delta prevailed, who achieved his first and only World Cup victory in his career, and Kankkunen, who finished behind the Italian at 40 seconds, which despite being higher on the gravel sections, could not catch up with his teammate. The last two events were Cataluña and RAC, and Sainz reappeared, winning the two asphalt tests and being crowned champion of the world for the second time. In Spain, a test that only scored points for the drivers' competition, Sainz prevailed on the asphalt sections with a much improved Celica and held up to his rivals on the gravel sections. Kankkunen finished second just 36 seconds behind the Spaniard and Auriol slid off the road with a steering failure that sent him into a ditch that took spectators half an hour to clear. Despite the subsequent comeback, he could only finish tenth, a situation that placed him third overall in the world championship.In the Rally of Great Britain the title was decided. It was attended by Sainz with 124 points, Kankkunen with 122 and Auriol with 121. The difference between the three was therefore minimal and the one ahead of the other two would be crowned champion. The one who showed the best was the Spaniard, who prevailed against an Auriol who was again accompanied by bad luck having mechanical problems with the Delta and a Kankkunen who did not go beyond third place, behind his compatriot Vatanen who finished second with Subaru Legacy.

After the rallies in Catalonia and Great Britain, everything indicated that Sainz would continue with Toyota the following year despite the entry of Castrol as the new sponsor of the Japanese brand, which meant a problem for Sainz as he was sponsored by Repsol. The solution was chosen to set up a second team at Toyota with a different sponsor, however Sainz ended up becoming interested in Lancia's offer, which made all kinds of technical guarantees to both him and Repsol.

Lancia

Lancia Delta HF Integrale de Sainz, with which he competed in 1993 in his annus horribilisthe worst in terms of sporting results of his entire WRC career.

Season 1993

The signing of Sainz by Lancia, which at that time was considered the best team, caused rivers of ink to flow in the Spanish press. The team was managed by the Jolly Club, Lancia's satellite team, and already in the first tests that were carried out in a hidden French stretch, some thirty journalists attended. The expectation was maximum, both for fans and for Sainz himself. The Lancia Delta, which wore the colors of the new sponsors, Repsol and Banesto, was supposed to be superior to the rest of the cars in the championship. However, an accident near Monte Carlo during the tests set off the alarms. Michelin's famous anti-puncture system did not prevent a tire from slipping and causing the accident. That was the first notice that Lancia was no longer the same as the previous year and Sainz's hopes were immediately dashed. His new teammate would be the Italian Andrea Aghini and as main rivals Kankkunen and Auriol in Toyota, and François Delecour and Miki Biasion in Ford, a brand that debuted the new Ford Escort RS Cosworth.

In the first round of the year, Monte Carlo, Sainz had his first setbacks with the Delta. In the first stage he lost a tire and in the second the parking brake got stuck on a hairpin. On the second day he managed to climb up to third position after the two Ford Escorts. However, shortly after, an error by the ouvreur caused Sainz to leave the track when he encountered an ice sheet that caused him to lose more than forty minutes plus fifteen due to penalties. Didier's Toyota climbed the positions and ended up taking the victory by only fifteen seconds over Delecour who was second. Despite Sainz's attempts to set good times, he could only finish in fourteenth position, far from the points. Some voices suspected some illegal maneuver by the Toyotas, but nothing could be proven.

In Sweden, the Toyotas achieved the first double of the year, a test that Lancia did not attend. In Portugal the opposite happened: the Japanese brand did not register due to its high cost but it did have the presence of Carlos Sainz. In Portuguese lands, the rival to beat was Delecour's Ford, which dominated the entire event. The Spaniard managed to lead the test when an error by the commissioners in a verification caused a fuel leak in the Frenchman's car. Delecour recovered from the incident and took first place again. Sainz tried to surprise the gravel stages but a mistake in the Arcos Portela stage caused him to lose more than a minute compared to the Fords. His misfortune did not end there; the following day he suffered a spectacular accident in which he flipped over five times after colliding with a slope. The victory went to the Fords who took the first two places on the podium. The next test was the hard Safari where the Lancias did not attend either and Toyota comfortably won the first four positions in the classification.

When Sainz was performing recce for the Córcega Rally, he had to travel to Spain quickly to attend the birth of his first daughter, Blanca. The bad news came in the sporting aspect when he found out that the team's chief mechanic, Rino Buschiazzo, was going to leave his mark after the Acropolis Rally.

In Córcega came the first mechanical evolution for the Delta: an improvement in the engine and a more direct steering that Sainz had requested at the beginning of the season. Once again the toughest rivals were Delecour's Ford Escort and Auriol's Toyota. Although Sainz attacked in the first stage in the rain, in the second he was even passed by the second Toyota of François Chatriot, despite mechanical problems from his rivals. The Spaniard was left out of the podium and disappointment began to take hold of him when he saw that the much-desired change to Lancia was not going to serve to achieve his third crown.

Juha Kankkunen who had been Sainz's partner in Toyota was the biggest rival in 1993 even though he was about to run. The Sainz tab by Lancia opened the doors to Toyota, where it would end up awarding its fourth and last world crown.

The next appointment was the Acropolis, where Sainz had achieved his first victory. The surprise was given by the Subaru of McRae and Vatanen who took advantage of the fact that they started in a back position and found the track clear. The tough Greek test began to claim its first victims. Auriol, who was coming out first, damaged the crankcase in a jump and had to retire. Then the Subaru of Vatanen and McRae and the Toyota of Kankkunen fell in the Tarzan stage. For his part, Sainz, who also suffered several problems, managed to finish in second position behind the Escort de Biasion. What in the end would be Sainz's best result that year, did not serve to calm the spirits of the Spanish fans who did not stop criticizing the signing by Lancia. The situation was such that Antonio Zanini was expelled from the Spanish federation after making harsh statements against Sainz.

The Spaniard did not lose hope and traveled to Argentina, the next appointment on the calendar, where he had to leave at the first opportunity. Although he attacked in the early stages of the test, in a short stretch of barely two kilometers his engine broke. The winner was Juha Kankkunen despite the fact that he had to change co-driver at the last moment when Juha Piironen suffered a stroke just after landing in the country.

It was time to travel far again, New Zealand, a test on gravel where again the first cars started with a disadvantage. Sainz, who was awarded the number 1 number, started in first position although this did not prevent him from staying in the lead following the pace of Delecour and Vatanen. The test reached the last bars with several riders in the leading group. Delecour, who was first, was only 35 seconds ahead of the fifth classified and decided to penalize 20 seconds so as not to be the first to start. Vatanen happened to open the road and lost a wheel that forced him to abandon. Sainz then took over at the head with the delicate task that this entailed. But his worst enemy was a bad set-up of the mechanics that caused him a lot of problems and he ended up sinking in the standings. Sainz pushed in the last stages, winning up to seven, which allowed him to climb to fourth position. The victory went to McRae who achieved his first victory in the world championship. The next appointment was Finland to which the Spaniard did not attend and Kankkunen took the victory and set out on the road to take what would be his fourth world title.

The championship moved again to distant lands, Australia where it was dyed black. In the second stage, the driver Possum Bourne left with his Subaru colliding with a tree and causing the death of his co-driver Roger Freeth. Almost without accepting the bad news, Sainz suffered a run off the track due to the slippery ground that forced him to abandon.

With only three rounds left to close the year, the world championship moved to Italy to play the San Remo Rally, Lancia's home where Sainz hoped to put in a good performance to make up for the poor results of the year. Despite the bad start of the rally, rolling in sixth place, his rivals were leaving one after another. First it was the locals Andrea Aghini and Piero Liatti; then Delecour and finally Biasion This situation left Sainz the leader of the race, although his joy did not last long as Franco Cunico managed to chase him down. With all the Spanish finished second in the test in the middle of the two Ford Escorts. However, months later the FIA penalized Lancia for using illegal fuel and disqualified Sainz's Delta.

In his home event, Catalonia, the Spaniard wanted to give his all in front of his fans. That year the test was held only on asphalt and the rival to beat was Delecour. Both kept up a good fight until Sainz got the wrong tires first and suffered a broken axle shaft and a puncture later, which caused him to lose a lot of time. Unfortunately an electrical problem later forced him to withdraw. The rally went to Delecour followed by Auriol and a third Kankkunen, since it was worth it to win the world champion for the fourth time with one appointment remaining.

Carlos said goodbye to the disastrous season with Lancia participating in two exhibition tests: Santiago de Compostela and Oviedo; to finally attend the Race of Champions in the Canary Islands where he faced Auriol in the final losing with a very small difference.

Subaru

Subaru Impreza 555 group A used by Carlos Sainz during the 1994 and 1995 seasons.

Season 1994

After the bad year with Lancia, Sainz began negotiations with David Richards to sign for Subaru. Landing on the Japanese brand was not easy. A week before the Spaniard's announcement, the new team formed by Colin McRae and Ari Vatanen was presented in Tokyo. Although he also carried out negotiations at Ford, the signing was finally established, leaving Vatanen out of the team.

In Monte Carlo, where the snow fell profusely, he started with the lead of Schwarz followed by McRae but the retirements and the exits from the track allowed the rise of Delecour and Sainz who took the lead with little difference between them. In the second stage, a bad set-up in the Subaru Impreza 555 and a bad choice of tires by Sainz made him fall to third place. In the Gap stage he recovered more than a minute but the pace of Delecour and Kankkunen, second at the time, prevented Sainz from improving his result and he decided not to attack and be content with the podium in his debut with Subaru.

Before the next test, Sainz reached an agreement with the video game company Nintendo who signed him as a new personal sponsor. The start in the Portuguese appointment was not good. Delecour and Kankkunen prevailed on the asphalt stages, while Sainz was seventh, more than a minute behind. Soon came Delecour's retirement, who broke his engine in the section of the Lousada circuit and from there Kankkunen and Biasion led the race until the end, while Sainz despite attacking on the gravel sections where he set the best time in two of them, he had a flat tire which prevented him from continuing the attack and he had to settle for fourth place.

After Portugal, the team carried out some tests with the intention of developing the Impreza. During the same Delecour ended up in the hospital after having an accident with his Ferrari F40 which took him away from the competition for a few months. Although less minor, Sainz also suffered an accident while training, but the worst news was when he found out about the death of his friend and former team manager at Renault: Bernard Tramont. Auriol led the Corsican event throughout the event, however the two Subaru they marched very close to the Ford Escort during the first stage. The Frenchman continued setting the best times but could not get away from the Spaniard despite suffering some brake problem. In the penultimate stage, that of Ford, he had problems with the clutch, which allowed Sainz to reduce the advantage and situate himself just nine seconds. In the final stage, the longest of the rally, 43km, Sainz struggled until the Impreza's anti-roll bar broke and prevented him from fighting for first place. Sainz settled for second place but was happy to see how the Impreza showed signs of competitiveness even in the less favorable priori tests.

In the Acropolis, the Subaru took the lead in the standings from the first moment, where the tactics of not starting first and thus clearing the stages were repeated again. In the Tarzan McRae section he got away and increased his lead by 36 seconds over Auriol who managed to overtake the Spaniard overall. On the next stage McRae came out of service with his door window poorly closed and it broke during the link. The Scotsman interrupted the start of the next section for half an hour as a protest to have it fixed but only managed to get the commissioners to exclude him at the end of the day. Without his teammate and the problems of his rivals, Sainz faced the last day with a comfortable advantage of more than four minutes over Schwarz and claimed the first victory of the year and the first also for the Subaru Impreza 555. Despite this, he received some criticism since he had not won a World Cup test for thirteen months.

The next appointment was Argentina where a problem with the repeaters prevented us from knowing the times during the first day. Once the matter was resolved, the race became a one-on-one between Sainz and Auriol. The Spaniard had problems with the anti-puncture system of his Pirelli, a situation that his rival took advantage of to reduce the advantage. On the last day Sainz lost ten seconds for jumping too much on a slope and then it was Auriol who suffered a similar mishap and broke the glass. Both arrived at the last stage with a difference of only four seconds. Tire problems continued to weigh on Sainz and the Frenchman claimed the final victory in one of the closest and most exciting races in world championship history.

Second place earned the Spaniard to travel to New Zealand, the next appointment, as world leader. Despite this, his joy was short-lived as he had to leave very soon due to a broken engine and saw how his teammate McRae claimed victory and his greatest rival in the competition, Auriol, took the lead with his fifth place.

In Finland and with Kankkunen out of the question after rolling over, another Finn took the lead, Tommi Mäkinen who ran the home event with an official Ford Escort RS Cosworth. Only Sainz and Auriol followed the pace at which they soon overtook several times, first the Frenchman and then Sainz so that both found themselves with a difference of only seven seconds with the last day of the race to go. But the poor set-up chosen in the Impreza prevented him from completing the final stages comfortably and not only was he unable to fight for victory, but he ended up giving second place in the standings to Mäkinen.

Before attending the Sanremo Rally, Sainz saw the birth of his second son: Carlos. In the Italian event, Auriol attacked too much in the first stage on gravel and lost a lot of time, leaving the Spaniard free to win several special stages, taking advantage of the fact that he started tenth. On the last day, already on asphalt, the Frenchman went all out and took the victory, although the Spaniard and despite some electrical problems added a new podium and went to the leading RAC Rally in the world.

On British soil, Auriol suffered an incident and lost four minutes that plunged him into the standings. With McRae leading the event, Sainz lost second position to Kankkunen, while Auriol rolled again as well as suffering turbo problems. Sainz and Moya tried to convince David Richards to try to stop Colin in case the Frenchman climbed back to seventh place, since second place was not enough for Sainz to become world champion. Unfortunately for the Spanish duo, in one of the stages Moya sang a note late in a downhill right-hander, which made Sainz lose control of the Impreza and utter his famous phrase: "we screwed up, Luis". With Sainz out of the race, McRae took victory on Scottish soil, while sixth place earned Auriol the world champion.

Season 1995

The 1995 season started as always at the Monte Carlo Rally where the two Subaru quickly prevailed. Although Delecour then set good times Sainz took the lead with a 44 second advantage with Mäkinen third and Kankkunen behind. The new regulations introduced by the FIA that year prevented assistance between stages, so some drivers had to remove the studs from their tires by hand during the following special stages, which significantly harmed the teams that rode Pirelli. Due to this, Sainz came to lose the lead momentarily. François Delecour was behind the Spaniard and in one of the last stages, Col de Turini, Sainz took 17 seconds ahead of the Frenchman who could do little since he later suffered a broken shock absorber. In this way, Sainz claimed victory in Monte Carlo accompanied by Kakkunen and Mäkinen on the podium.The second event of the year was the Rally Sweden where Sainz would make his debut. In the second stage he set the best time but then suffered a run off the track and fell to eighth position overall and although he tried to climb positions his aspirations to achieve a good result were frustrated due to an oil leak in the engine that did not They were able to fix it. Due to this, Subaru decided to deflate the Impreza's engine a bit for Portugal. Kankkunen began by setting the pace of the rally that he soon saw how Sainz also set good times. In the Povoa de Varzim stage he managed to get ahead of the Finn with a slight advantage. The sun came out in the next stage where the Celicas proved superior, an opportunity that Kankkunen took advantage of to take the lead with a margin of 22 seconds. The rain and fog made an appearance, a situation that the Spaniard took advantage of to reduce the differences. Although Kankkunen fought back, he could not avoid the victory for Sainz who left the last stage with broken brakes. In Córcega Sainz prepared the Impreza for mixed conditions despite the fact that he had good weather, which added to the problems with the limited slipcover, ended the first day in fifth position with the two Fords of Bruno Thiry and Delecour lapping in the lead. In the last stages Thiry gave up when he saw the victory close, which finally ended up in the hands of Auriol after overtaking Delecour at the last moment. Sainz could only be fourth but closed the first half of the leading year in the world championship with a twelve-point advantage over Kankkunen. The next appointment was the New Zealand rally although Sainz took advantage of a break in the calendar to carry out tests on asphalt and gravel as well to go to the Oviedo Formula Rally as usual. Unfortunately, during an outing with friends, he injured his right shoulder and had to undergo emergency surgery, which forced him to be sick and could not participate in the New Zealand event where his teammate McRae won and the Frenchman Auriol became world leader. After recovering from the shoulder, the Spaniard went to the Australian rally where bad luck prevented him from scoring points, a branch broke the radiator in the Wellington section and despite the efforts Sainz and Moya could not prevent the cylinder head gasket from burning. The Catalonia rally was then held, where the two Subaru trained thoroughly and David Richards was present to negotiate his renewal with Sainz, although he announced his intention not to renew with the team. In the race Kankkunen dominated the first sections with a Sainz who, in his attempt to follow him, spun where he lost several seconds. Then the Finn made a mistake by mishearing a note and gave first place to the Spaniard. Richards then decided to meet with his drivers so they wouldn't take risks and secure the double, but McRae paid no attention and in one of the sections his team leader tried to stop him and was almost run over. Finally he managed to convince him to penalize what earned Sainz the victory at home, a situation that left both tied on points in the World Cup standings. Days later, Sainz announced his return to Toyota, a brand that was later penalized when the FIA discovered a trap in the Celica's turbo and imposed a one-year ban for which the Spaniard was left without a team in the absence of the last rally. of the year. In Great Britain Sainz took the lead but then suffered a scare with a broken radiator included although he was able to continue. Mäkinen succeeded him in the lead but returned the lead to the Spaniard and from then on the race became a one-on-one between the two Subaru that played the rally and the world championship. Sainz could do little in the face of the superiority of McRae who won on his land and was proclaimed world champion, relegating Sainz to runner-up for the second consecutive year.

Ford

Season 1996

Sainz with the Ford Escort RS Cosworth in 1996 won a victory in Indonesia and six podiums but was unable to do anything in front of Tommi Mäkinen's Mitsubishi, which was awarded the first of its four world titles.

After two years at Subaru, Sainz signed for Ford with the support of Repsol in between, since the expulsion of Toyota for irregularities in the Catalunya Rally the previous year prevented his return to the Japanese brand. The Spaniard found a team in its low hours and a car, the Ford Escort RS Cosworth, which he had to work on from day one. The season started in the Rally of Sweden, since the Montecarlo sa had left due to the imposition of the FIA of a rotating calendar. Although Ford discussed the possibility of taking the start in the Monegasque event, they decided to focus on developing the car and wait for the Swedish event. The Nordic drivers led the race on day one with Sainz in third place despite rear axle problems early on. On the second day he managed to overtake Kankkunen and get closer to the leader Mäkinen, however a center differential problem forced him to be more conservative and settle for second place. McRae finished behind him, who benefited from an off-road run by Kankkunen. With the Rally de Portugal off the World Cup calendar, just like Monte Carlo, the team took the opportunity to test around Montseny on asphalt and gravel, where In addition, Sainz shot an advertisement for Repsol. The next appointment was the Safari Rally, less hard than in past editions but the rains that had fallen days before had left the roads impassable. The Subaru and Mitsubishi drivers led from the start while Sainz held on in fifth with many problems and mishaps. Victory went to Makinen while the Spanish pair was forced to retire with a suspension and engine problem that left them stranded and lost in the African night for over an hour. appointment that made its debut in the world championship and in which all the pilots attended without knowing the terrain. The very slippery sections and high humidity caused several retirements and problems from the start. Mäkinen and McRae initially led with Sainz fourth, but both the Finn and the Scotsman went off the track and the fight for victory turned to Kankkunen, Piero Liatti and Sainz. The former gave up due to jumping too high on a slope and the latter could not keep up with the pace of the Spaniard who thus took his first victory of the year and his first with the Escort. At the Acropolis Ford prepared the car to Safari specifications, an overly conservative idea that prevented him from entering the fight for victory. Sainz was third at all times, keeping a close eye on the Subaru of Eriksson and Liatti. McRae claimed the victory with a Mäkinen, whose second place earned him to remain leader in the general classification with Sainz second. The World Cup then moved to Argentina where McRae came out very strong in the early stages until he suffered an assist penalty where he also ran over two spectators. This situation left Makinen and Sainz in the lead and despite the efforts of the Spaniard to reduce the advantage against his rival, a problem in the front transmission first (part that they came to take from his partner's car since the spare equipment was not available). and a broken power steering later dropped him to fourth. After setting several scratch times he moved up to third place, but a badly marked curve in the final stage scared more than one, except for Eriksson who later collided with a stone and gave Sainz second position. Before going to the next appointment, the man from Madrid went to Oviedo to compete in the Fómula Rally where he prevailed against Vatanen, also second with a Ford Escort. Rally Finland started with a special stage in Jyväskylä where a participant left and He ran over several spectators, causing the death of one of them. However, the race continued the following day, where the local drivers showed their power with Kankkunen in front, while Sainz broke a part of the turbo that plunged him down the standings. Despite the comeback and when he was in sixth position, the turbo broke a few kilometers from the finish line and Sainz added a zero in his personal locker while Mäkinen claimed victory and was increasingly leading the world championship. In Australia He came out with enthusiasm in the first stages at Langley Park but Mäkinen took the lead in the third stage and there he held on until the end. Although the Spaniard attacked in some sections, he could never beat the Finn and to make matters worse in the final stage, after torrential rain that almost caused the suspension of the sections in the Bunnings complex, an oversight caused him to lose second place in favor of Eriksson. Mäkinen took the victory and was proclaimed world champion for the first time with two tests to go. With thethe drivers' title decided, the Sanremo Rally was held where Mäkinen went off in the first section and was out of the race. Sainz had the typical problems opening up the track and when he was in fifth position he decided to take a penalty on purpose to start further behind and not be so affected. The tactic worked for him and he moved up to second behind McRae who was running first. However, a storm later caused him to lose almost half a minute and he gave up a lot of time compared to the Subarus in the absence of the asphalt sections that were run that year in Liguria. After Liatti dropped out, Sainz attacked the Scotsman reducing his lead by six seconds, but McRae held out and took victory ahead of the two Ford Escorts. public. But when the two Fords were in the lead, a puddle first scared Mäkinen and then caused Sainz to roll over without suffering any apparent damage, except for the timing belt that broke and ended all the Spaniard's aspirations. After the World Cup, he went to the Canary Islands to compete in the Race of Champions and to the Montmeló Circuit where he was able to ride Álex Crivillé's Honda.

Season 1997

The 1997 season was a year of great change. The calendar increased the number of scoring events to almost double and a new category was launched: the World Rally Car, a fact that allowed the entry of new brands. At Ford, Armin Schwarz was the new teammate who replaced Thiry, while the management would be in charge of Malcom Wilson, former driver and owner of M-Sport. As always, the year started in Monte Carlo for the first time without its classic concentration stage and the first stage was held in part of the Monaco circuit. In the Valence stages Sainz used different tires from the rest, which allowed him to go first ahead of Mäkinen and Liatti. However the pace of the Subaru and Mitsubishi were superior to the Fords throughout, although Sainz scraped a second place after a mistake by Mäkinen made his tire choice wrong and lost a lot of time. Liatti took the victory with the Subaru Impreza WRC, one of the vehicles that best adopted the new regulations. In Sweden there was one of the warmest editions, the lack of snow made it necessary to water the sections at night to cause the presence of ice and avoid problems with the studded tires. The changes of leader followed one another in the first six sections and although Sainz lost a lot of time in the Jutbo special, he moved to third place due to Mäkinen's penalty for an assist. He came out very strong in the next stage and closed the gap on the Subaru in front until problems with Eriksson's gearbox and McRae's brakes left the Ford man free to take the lead. However, a poor choice of tires made him lose a lot of time and Eriksson took the opportunity to overtake him and take the victory. However, the second position allowed the Spaniard to become the world leader. The Safari was brought forward that year and the sections were drier although more rocky. In the Okejiado tamo, Sainz and Moya punctured when dodging an impala and when replacing the wheel the nuts were not well fixed and they came loose in the middle of the race, with the consequent abandonment. The victory went to McRae, who gave Subaru the third victory of the year. In Portugal, a show stage on asphalt was organized as a start, which was canceled due to poor organization where Sainz was the fastest. However, and already in the gravel sections, the Subaru once again starred in the race while Sainz's Escort broke the transmission and led to his immediate abandonment. The victory went to Mäkinen who took advantage of the retirements of McRae and Eriksson. In Catalonia Sainz celebrated his thirty-fifth birthday with the arrival of a new sponsor: Fortuna. The Escort once again suffered from the lack of power that the Spaniard had been complaining about since the beginning of the year, compared to the front-wheel drive Peugeot 306s of Delecour and Panizzi that gave surprise at the start of the test. The Subaru's then took the lead with Mäkinen third, while the Spaniard was fifth until the Escort's exhaust burned out the transmission and plunged him down the standings. The victory went to Mäkinen who prevailed over Liatti, second classified while Sainz could only be tenth. the rain and cleared the way for Sainz who achieved a seven-second lead over McRae with the final stage to go. The Scotsman's Pirelli tires worked to his advantage and he took the win at the last moment. In Argentina, Kankkunen replaced Schwarz as Sainz's teammate and both retired, the first due to a broken suspension and the second due to a broken engine. Mäkinen took the win ahead of McRae.

Return to Toyota

Season 1998

Carlos Sainz driving a Toyota Corolla WRC at Rally Monte Carlo in 1999.

Rear part of Sainz and Moya’s Toyota Corolla WRC

In 1998 he returned to Toyota, the team with which he had won his two world titles in 1990 and 1992. This time he took the wheel of a Toyota Corolla WRC sponsored by the Castrol lubricant brand, signifying the end of the sponsorship of Repsol to his sports career.

The season started well, with a victory in Monte Carlo and two second places in Sweden and Portugal, the Spaniard led the world championship, followed by Juha Kankkunen, Burns and McRae. In Spain and France he would not be so lucky and would not score any points, although he would also benefit from the withdrawals of his opponents. Arriving at Rally Argentina, Sainz continued to lead the championship and there he would achieve his third second place of the year, where he beat Makinen who was approaching after starting the season badly with four retirements. After Greece, where he would not be able to get on the podium, settling for fourth place and where Makinen once again had to abandon, would come the New Zealand Rally where Sainz would win again, and his teammate Auriol would accompany him on the podium. Makinen took third place but was thirteen points behind the Spaniard with four tests to go. The Finn prevailed in the final stretch of the championship, winning in Finland, Italy and Australia, placing him in the lead, two points behind the Spaniard with one test remaining.

In the Rally of Great Britain, the Spaniard loses the championship practically won, 500 meters from the end of the last section, when a connecting rod of his Corolla breaks. Although it is possible to believe that he could have won if he had pushed the car those 500 meters, the truth is that the rally did not end until reaching the last link, which was about 70 km away, obviously this distance could not be covered by pushing the car. car in the barely 20 min they had. This incident is remembered as a truly unlucky moment in Carlos Sainz's career. The images of that moment were captured by the television cameras located there, since as it was the end of the rally the champion would be known as soon as the first cars passed, and unfortunately for Sainz the car stopped right there, being the title of that year for Tommi Mäkinen, who curiously also withdrew from that rally, due to a blow against a concrete block that destroyed the right rear wheel of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV.

Season 1999

During the 1999 season Sainz only managed to win one manufacturers' title which he left for Toyota, now fostering alternative interests in Formula 1. Sainz scored a total of eight podiums, but none in first place, and finished fifth in the drivers' standings, behind his teammate Auriol in third, who had taken his only win of the season at the first Rally China.

Ford

Season 2000

Sainz with the Ford Focus WRC at Rally Greece in 2000 where he achieved a second place.

In the 2000 season he returned to Ford, the team with which he had made his world championship debut. Team manager Malcolm Wilson had put together a team with which he aspired to win everything. As teammates, Sainz had Colin McRae and the young promise Petter Solberg.

The Spaniard made his debut with the Ford Focus WRC in the Monte Carlo Rally with a second place, thanks in part to the early retirement of the three Peugeot drivers and Richard Burns. In the Swedish Rally with set-up complications, Sainz ended up leaving due to the breakage of the screw that holds the oil pump pulley. After a fourth place in the Safari Rally and two third places in Portugal and Catalonia, Sainz faced the Argentina Rally wanting to climb the top of the podium and despite having led the test, on the second day of the rally, the Spaniard went off a slope and destroyed the Focus that prevented him from continuing the test.

In Greece, Ford's men led the race at all times and despite the broken anti-roll bar, Sainz attacked his teammate McRae who was in the lead, until the team decided to stop the Spaniard. Sainz did not stop until the last meter of the last stage, thus giving victory to the Scotsman. This situation deteriorated the atmosphere between Sainz and the team and was about to cost the break between them.

In Rally New Zealand, Sainz took third place after Burns and Kankkunen dropped out. The next round, Rally Finland, which was celebrating its golden anniversary, included new stages, Sainz had problems with the switchboard in the second section and after replacing it, he faced a test six minutes late that prevented him from scoring points. The next test would be in Cyprus, a test that was debuting in the World Cup. The Spaniard achieved victory without giving an alternative to his rivals, leading the test at all times and rising to the top of the podium after 28 rallies without achieving it.

In the Corsica Rally and the Sanremo Rally, the asphalt specialists Panizzi and Delecour achieved doubles with the Peugeot 206 WRC. The next test to face would be in Australia, where five drivers had options to achieve the world title. Due to the dust in the sections, the drivers revived the tactics of the starting order. In this way, the Spaniard made his calculations to be able to start late but a bad maneuver by his co-driver made him brake after passing the line from the finish line, an action that cost them the exclusion by the commissioners. The bad result in Australia made Sainz lose all the options for the title, who faced Great Britain fighting for third place until problems with the settings placed him in the fourth position. In a year dominated by Peugeot and its 206 WRC, Sainz took third overall ahead of his teammate, and the manufacturers' runner-up to Ford.

Season 2001

In 2001, Ford signed Francois Delecour and kept Sainz and McRae. He had five podium finishes in the first six races, but scored points in only four other races, without taking any wins. Therefore, the Spaniard finished sixth in the general classification. For his part, his partner McRae and the Englishman Richard Burns would compete in the world championship until the end of the season that the Subaru driver would win.

Season 2002

In 2002, Delecour would leave the team and Markko Martin would join. This time Sainz would achieve a victory in Argentina and a third place in the world championship ahead of his teammates, in a year once again dominated by Gronholm and his Peugeot 206 WRC.

Citroen

Season 2003

Carlos Sainz with a Citroën Xsara at Rally Finland in 2004.

In 2003 he signed for Citroën, his last team in the world championship, accompanied again by McRae and the Frenchman Sebastien Loeb. He achieved a victory in the Rally of Turkey and would finish third in the world championship.

Season 2004

For the 2004 season, Citroën sacked Colin McRae and kept Sainz and Loeb on. The year began with a retirement at Monte Carlo, due to an icy start that caused him to lose a wheel. The next test, Sweden, Sainz with many problems throughout the test, finished in fifth position, while his teammate Loeb won, becoming the first non-Nordic to win on Swedish soil. The next appointment would be the Rally of Mexico, one of the novelties of the calendar, which entered the world championship for the first time. The rally did not start well, since just the day before the 11M attacks had taken place in Madrid, and the spirits were not the best. After the withdrawal of several drivers, the Spaniard was able to fight for victory, until in a curve the brakes did not respond to them and he suffered a small rollover. However, he managed to save the third position on the podium behind the two Fords. In New Zealand, the Citroëns suffered from excessive oversteer which put them out of contention for victory. Loeb would finish fourth and Sainz sixth. In Cyprus, where the Finn Grönholm would initially win, things would change when days after the test, an irregularity was found in the water pumps of the Peugeots, for which they were excluded and the victory went to Loeb. Sainz would move up to third place.In Greece he would not be so lucky, a broken shock absorber lost him forty minutes, and although he fought to try to score any points, he would finish nineteenth. In Turkey, where the race was dominated by high temperatures, Sainz suffered a digestive breakdown on the second day, later accompanied by dizziness, cramps and headache. Despite the fact that the doctors urged him to abandon the test, he decided to continue and would finish fourth.

2004 would be his last full season in the World Cup. The Spaniard decided to leave the competition because the FIA wanted to continue with a long calendar of sixteen events in the world championship, which he considered excessive and took too much time away from his family.

The time has come to stop and devote more time to the family.

Carlos Sainz, October 21, 2004.

His time at Citroën helped Dani Sordo from Cantabria get a seat in the French team, since Sainz wanted to sponsor the Spanish driver.

Withdrawal from the World Cup

Sainz at Rally Acrópolis 2005

Despite his official retirement at the end of 2004, in 2005 he made two participations at the request of Citroën in the rallies of Greece and Turkey. The purpose of these participations was to help the brand score points since its second driver, Duval, was not able to finish the rallies. He managed to finish in fourth place in Turkey and in Greece, where he won his first World Cup rally in 1990, he managed to finish on the podium in third position, more than fulfilling the job for which Guy Frequelin, the director of Citroën, required him. Sainz showed that he was still at a very high level after his retirement after 17 seasons in the World Cup.

Carlos Sainz, after several months of speculation, ran alongside Villar Mir for the presidency of Real Madrid C.F.; after the resignation of Fernando Martín Álvarez, on April 26, 2006.

He continued to be linked to motorsports as an advisor to the Royal Spanish Automobile Federation and as a raid driver, enrolled in the official Volkswagen team.

Volkswagen

Dakar 2006-2007

Carlos Sainz on the Dakar 2007.

In mid-2005, Sainz announced his signing with Volkswagen to participate in the 2006 Dakar Rally. He finished in eleventh place, winning four stages. In 2007 he made his second foray into the mythical African event where he managed to win five stages and march in the leading positions until the middle of the rally. However, mechanical problems eventually relegated him to ninth place. That same year he managed to win his first rally raid by winning the Trans-Siberian Rally held in Portugal and Spain. That victory together with the two second places achieved in the Morocco and Dubai Rallies are worth it to win the Cross-Country Rally World Cup.

2008-2009

The 2008 Dakar Rally was not run due to the suspension of the event due to safety concerns. That year, however, he participated in the Central Europe Rally (Romania and Hungary) and in the PAX Rally (Portugal) -both framed in the Dakar Series-. Sainz takes victory in the first and finishes in second position in the PAX Rally behind Stéphane Peterhansel.

In the 2009 edition of the Dakar Rally -the first to be run in South America-, Sainz after clearly leading the raid (he won 6 of the first 10 stages) and with an advantage of 27:31 minutes over the American Mark Miller, suffers an accident with three days left to finish the rally. In stage number 12 between the Argentine towns of Fiambalá and La Rioja, his car falls down a 4-meter ravine due to an error in the road book indications. This accident and the injury (in the same) of his co-driver Michel Périn made him abandon the race.

In 2009 Carlos Sainz won the Rally dos Sertoes in Brazil after 10 intense stages of competition in which he fought with his teammate, the Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah, thus making up for the abandonment he suffered this year in the Dakar, when he was the leader with three days to go before the conclusion of the raid.

Also in September of that same year, Carlos Sainz won the Silk Way Rally (Silk Way Rally), after 9 stages and a 4,352-kilometre journey that is part of the Dakar Series and that takes place between the steppes and deserts of Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, fighting with Mark Miller who was second and with Nasser Al Attiyah, who suffered a rollover in the eighth stage, who until then was the leader.

Dakar 2010

In 2010 he became the first Spaniard to win the Dakar Rally in the car category, ahead of his teammates Nasser Al-Attiyah, whom he surpassed in 2 minutes 12 seconds - the difference between first and second is the smallest in the history of the test - and Mark Miller, (thus achieving Volkswagen its first triplet in the category). In that same year, Sainz won the Silk Road Rally for the second consecutive year, after eight stages., Sainz commanded the general classification with 8 minutes and 27 seconds ahead of his teammate, the Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah.

Dakar 2011

Sainz on the Dakar 2011.

Sainz started the 2011 Dakar leading by winning the first stage. He achieved several victories and remained the overall leader for the first seven stages. Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah takes the lead on stage 8 and places Sainz second. Sainz had an accident on stage 11, causing the front suspension to break after falling into a hole. This made him lose second position and all chances of repeating the Dakar title. Sainz finished the rally in third position behind his teammates Nasser Al Attiyah, -winner of the test- and Giniel de Villiers.

Dakar 2013

Sainz with the SMG buggy on the Dakar of 2013.

In November 2012 the news of Sainz's return to the Dakar for 2013 was confirmed. His participation was in a rear-wheel drive buggy, forming a team with the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah and having as co-driver the German Timo Gottschalk. Sainz started the Dakar as leader by setting the best time in the first two stages, after the rectification of the organization due to a GPS failure, a fact that also meant victory number twenty-six on the Dakar for the Spaniard, tying the record of the Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel. However, days later the ASO rectified it and returned the subtracted time, which made the Spaniard fall to eleventh position. In the third stage, Sainz came out first in the car category and suffered electronic problems, the car stopped fifty kilometers from the finish line and he was close to giving up although he was able to complete the race. In the fourth stage he had problems again. A fissure in the fuel pipeline caused the loss of fuel and he was forced to stop to refill the tank even with a motorcycle belonging to a participant who had abandoned but finally had to be towed by another car to reach the finish line, which it made him lose two and a half hours. In the fifth stage, with fewer problems and even leading the race, he finished in fifth position. However, in the sixth stage when he was second in the partial stages, his buggy broke down and Sainz he was forced to terminate his participation in the Dakar.

Dakar 2014

His seventh participation in the Dakar was with an SMG Buggy, a team with which he collaborated in the development of the vehicle until the last day. In the first stage he finished fifth behind the Spanish Nani Roma with whom he had a discussion at the end of it by accusing him of having blocked him. behind Stéphane Peterhansel, the new leader of the car category, which allowed him to move up to second place in the general standings, 28 minutes behind the Frenchman. losing a lot of time and falling to fourth place overall, 12:02 behind the new leader: Nani Roma. Sainz's first victory came in the fourth stage, with a length of 657 km and a neutralization of 100, where he also made with the leadership of the test with more than two minutes of advantage over the second classified, Nani Roma. The fifth stage was marked by the disorientation problems of all the participants and in the case of Sainz accompanied by electrical problems in his buggy that left him they lost a lot of time in the stage and fell to sixth place overall. After the race the organization imposed on the Spaniard, among other participants, a one-hour penalty for skipping one of the way points so he lost two more positions in the standings. In the sixth stage, less hard than the previous ones and again divided into two sections and an intermediate neutralization section, Sainz finished fifth, six and a half minutes behind Stéphane Peterhansel, the winner of the day. In this way he ended the first week of the race with the Spaniard in sixth position overall and two hours behind the leader, Nani Roma. Sainz's second victory came after the rest stage on a day marked by high average speed and the Delays in the departure time of the participants due to the rains that fell the day before. The SMG car finished first ahead of seven MINIs from the X-RAID team. With this victory, the Spaniard continued to be sixth overall, almost two hours behind the leader. In the eighth stage, Sainz managed to finish in third place and two and a half minutes behind the winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah, however, in the following stage, he suffered a broken leg. the right front suspension that made him stand still for an hour and ten minutes. After starting off, he reached the finish line in 23rd position, which dropped him to eighth place overall, three and a half hours behind the leader. In the next stage, Sainz made a detour at a link to locate a gas station and refuel on the way. fuel fair. However, when trying to take advantage of the lost time, he suffered an accident in which he rolled over twice and despite the fact that both he and his co-driver were unharmed, the vehicle was destroyed and he was forced to leave.

Peugeot

In March 2014 Sainz signed for the Peugeot team, a brand that announced its return to the Dakar Rally for the 2015 edition with the Spanish driver, the Frenchman Cyril Despres and later also with Stéphane Peterhansel.

Dakar 2016

A failure in the derailleur housing, in STAGE 10, forces him to retire. He was defending the lead at the time.

Dakar 2017

Carlos Sainz returns to compete in the 2017 Dakar enrolled in the Peugeot team, in the fourth stage he had to retire after suffering a spectacular accident with eight kilometers to go to the end of the fourth stage, provisionally leading the general classification.

Dakar 2018

Rally contested in the Peugeot team at the controls of the 3008 DKR Maxi, champion of said edition was proclaimed with Lucas Cruz as co-driver, leading the Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah by more than 43 minutes, this victory is the second absolute victory in this test after the one obtained in 2010 at the controls of a Volkswagen Touareg.

Mini

As Peugeot abandoned its rally raid programme, Sainz joined the X-Raid team in September 2018.

Dakar 2019

In 2019, he started the rally fighting for the lead, but a breakdown on stage three left him with no chance of victory, as he lost more than three hours. During the following stages he had more mechanical problems and his role shifted to supporting his teammates who had chances to win. Finally, he won the last stage and finished the rally in thirteenth position, almost ten hours behind the leader.

Dakar 2020

In 2020, he managed to win his third Dakar at the controls of the Mini JCW Buggy and again with Lucas Cruz as co-driver. He does it for the first time wearing the colors of Mini (he previously did it for Volkswagen and Peugeot). After proclaiming himself a stage winner on 4 occasions and gaining a little more than 6 minutes of advantage over Nasser Al-Attiyah at the end of 5,000 km of special.

Other activities

Support for young pilots

Sainz has helped several young drivers in their racing career. One of the most important was Dani Sordo, whom he helped to get an official seat in 2004 in the Citroën World Rally Team. In 2015, when Sainz was part of the Peugeot brand, he collaborated with the Peugeot Spain Racing Team, a team made up of the drivers Pepe López and José Antonio Suárez and designed to face the 208 Rally Cup with a Peugeot 208 R2, a competition corresponding to the French championship. It also supported Jan Solans, winner of the junior world championship in 2019.

Carlos Sainz Junior Team

In the year 2000 he created a project together with Ford to search for and train young drivers. In the first year the chosen drivers were: Óscar Fuertes, Fernando Medina, Esteban Vallín and Txus Jaio, the latter who became Spanish gravel rally champion in 2002 and 2003 with a Ford Focus WRC. In 2001 they were chosen Up to five drivers who participated in different events in Spain aboard a Ford Ka Rally Kit Car.

Project with Volkswagen

Volkswagen's return to the World Rally Championship includes the Spanish, Carlos Sainz, as a member of the team, working as an adviser and one of the promoters of the team's first signing, Sebastien Ogier. In September 2011 Sainz and Ulrich Hackenberg carried out the first tests of the Volkswagen Polo R WRC in Veldenz, near Trier (Germany), as the first preparations for the Volkswagen team for the return to the world championship in 2013. In March 2012 he carried out tests again with the Polo in Almería, this time to prepare the car for the gravel rallies.

In 2012 he was authorized to test an Audi R8 LSM in the mythical and abandoned Sitges-Terramar Autodrome, an oval circuit where the first Spanish speed Grand Prix was held. Despite the difficult conditions of the track, with cracked areas and some potholes, he managed to travel at 170 km/h and complete a complete turn in 42.6 seconds, beating the historical record that was established at 157.2 km/h and 45, 8 seconds since 1923.

Army Advisor

In 2014 he became an advisor to the XII Guadarrama Armored Brigade on issues related to displacement and life in desert areas.

Decorations and recognitions

• Gold Medal of the Royal Sports Merit, awarded by the Superior Sports Council (1994)
• In 1997 she received the Olympic Order granted by the Spanish Olympic Committee.
• On November 30, 2001, he was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Royal Sports Merit issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. Also in 2001 he received the Gold Medal to the sporting merit granted by the Madrid City Council.
• In 2004, during the Rally Catalunya, he was considered by drivers, co-drivers and directors of the official teams, as “the best rally driver of all time”.
• In 2008, he received the Medal of Youth and Sport granted by the Government of France.
• In 2012 Sainz was included in the Hall of Fame of Rallys (Rally Hall of Fame) of the Mobilia Museum of Transport of Finland, located in the city of Kangasala. He received this tribute during the Rally Finland held from 2 to 4 August that year.
• In 2018 he received the "Special Prize for Sports Spirit" granted by the City Council of Pozuelo de Alarcón.
• In January 2019 FIA created the FIA Rally Hall of Fame (Salón de la Fama de los Rallies) where he included all the champions of the world of speciality, including Carlos Sainz himself.
• In June 2019: Education and Sport Award, awarded by the Club Basketball Students.
• In February 2020, El Confidencial and Herbert Smith Freehills awarded him the Influential Award for his career.
• In May 2020, Carlos Sainz was crowned the Best Rally WRC driver of all time in a survey of amateurs and expert journalists.
• Princess of Asturias Sports Award 2020.

Decoration	Year
Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Sports Merit	2001

Statistics

Titles

Predecessor: Miki Biasion	World Rally Champion 1990	Successor: Juha Kankkunen
Predecessor: Juha Kankkunen	World Rally Champion 1992	Successor: Juha Kankkunen
Predecessor: Giniel de Villiers Stéphane Peterhansel Nasser Al-Attiyah	Rally Dakar 2010 2018 2020	Successor: Nasser Al-Attiyah Nasser Al-Attiyah Stéphane Peterhansel
Predecessor: Salvador Servià	Spanish Rally Champion 1987, 1988	Successor: Pep Bassas
Predecessor: Didier Auriol	Champions Race 1997	Successor: Colin McRae

Filmography

• Documentary TVE (14/04/2016), «Conexion Vintage - Carlos Sainz» in rtve.es

Published bibliography

• Carlos Sainz: A Spanish World Champion in Rallyes. Editorial: Biographies Espasa Series. Ricardo Muñoz, Angel Orte. Espasa Calpe, S.A. (1991) ISBN 8423922421, 9788423922420.
• Carlos Sainz: Passion to Win. Editorial: El País Aguilar. Javier Rubio. (1996) ISBN 8403597339, 978-8403597334.
• Images of Carlos Sainz: a pilot, a style, a time. Editorial: Edicions Hipotesi. Esteban Delgado Contreras. (2005) ISBN 8493322458, 978-8493322458
• Carlos Sainz. Vencer al Desert: The story of the only Spanish who has achieved the dream of winning the Dakar by car. Editorial: Libros Cúpula. Manuel Franco Peral (2010). ISBN 978-84-480-6847-9.

Consulted bibliography

• Scalextric, Rally Champions. Vol. I. Altaya. 2008. ISBN 978-84-487-2507-5. |fechaacceso= requires |url= (help)
• Scalextric, Rally Champions. Vol. II. Altaya. 2008. ISBN 978-84-487-2508-2. |fechaacceso= requires |url= (help)
• LópezPipo; EscayolaSimó (2005). Scalextric, Carlos Sainz Limited Edition. Altaya. ISBN 84-487-1648-5.
• «1990: A Spanish at the top». Scalextric, Rally Champions. Vol. I. Altaya. 2008. pp. 296-300. ISBN 978-84-487-2507-5. |fechaacceso= requires |url= (help)
• "1992: Sainz, a world champion." Scalextric, Rally Champions. Vol. I. Altaya. 2008. pp. 320-324. ISBN 978-84-487-2507-5. |fechaacceso= requires |url= (help)

References and notes

Notes

1. ↑ In 2004 at Rally Catalonia he was chosen by his colleagues as the best driver in the history of the World Rally Championship.
2. ↑ In the beginnings Juanjo Lacalle and Sainz alternated at the wheel, so they both performed as a pilot and copilot. Until 1982 they did not decide that Sainz was the pilot and Lacalle the co-driver.

References