Veteran Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Sr. recently won the prestigious Dakar Rally on Friday and at the age of 61, he became the oldest winner of the race. This also marks his fourth Dakar Rally triumph.
Carlos Sainz Sr. wins Dakar Rally
The two-time world rally champion was on his way to victory as his closest rival, Sebastien Loeb, got stranded in the desert for over an hour during Thursday’s penultimate stage.
🏆 @CSainz_oficial and Lucas Cruz are the Ultimate #Dakar2024 WINNERS 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/wWELcGGwRi
— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 19, 2024
Carlos Sainz Sr. hasn’t won a single stage recently. However, his consistency kept him out of serious trouble while his closest competitors toiled hard. Nasser Al-Attiyah moved from Toyota to Prodrive but an engine failure forced him to retire on Stage 8.
Sebastien Loeb became Sainz’s main opponent as a result; at one point, the nine-time world rally champion even cut Sainz’s lead to just five minutes. However, on the penultimate stage, he damaged his car’s suspension after hitting a boulder, costing him valuable time and eliminating him from the race.
Sainz got his teammates Mattias Ekstrom and Stephane Peterhansel to assist him in his bid for victory. He reached the finish line in 1 hour 20.25 mins ahead of second-placed Guillaume de Mevius. Loeb is third overall, another five minutes behind, despite winning five of the 12 stages.
Carlos Sainz reacts to the victory
“I think the energy comes from the passion I have,” said Carlos Sainz Sr. “It’s obviously, believing in yourself, believing that you can still drive and a lot of work behind the scenes as well. To be here at my age and to stay at the level, you need to work a lot beforehand. It doesn’t just come like that. It shows that when you work hard, normally it pays off. At the moment, I want to enjoy this victory and I will think about my future in the next weeks.”
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