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| Carlos Sainz | |
|---|---|
| World Rally Championship record | |
| Nationality |  Spanish |
| Active years | 1987–2005 |
| Teams | Ford, Toyota, Lancia, Subaru, Citroën |
| Rallies | 196 |
| Championships | 2 (1990, 1992) |
| Rally wins | 26 |
| Podium finishes | 97 |
| Stage wins | 756 |
| Total points | 1242 |
| First rally | 1987 Rally Portugal |
| First win | 1990 Acropolis Rally |
| Last win | 2004 Rally Argentina |
| Last rally | 2005 Acropolis Rally |
Carlos Sainz Cenamor (born April 12, 1962 in Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish former rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title with Toyota in 1990 and 1992, and finished runner-up four times. Constructors' world champions to have benefited from Sainz are Subaru (1995), Toyota (1999) and Citroën (2003, 2004 and 2005).
Nicknamed El Matador, Sainz holds the WRC records for most career starts, podium finishes and points. He was also the first non-Scandinavian to win the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland. Besides WRC successes, he has won the Race of Champions (1992) and the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (1990). His co-drivers were Antonío Boto, Luís Moya and Marc Martí.
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Career
Ford (1987–88)
Sainz began rallying in 1980, and won the Spanish Rally Championship with a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth in 1987 and 1988.[1] He first appeared in the World Rally Championship with Ford during the 1987 season, finishing seventh at the Tour de Corse and eighth at the RAC Rally. The following season, he finished fifth twice; at the Tour de Corse and at the Rallye Sanremo. Sainz then left Ford to join the Toyota Team Europe, the Japanese marque's rallying arm operating in Cologne, Germany.
Toyota (1989–92)
Despite all previous rallying Toyota Celicas having only ever looked a competitive prospect on highly specialized endurance rallies such as the Safari Rally, the new combination of Toyota and Sainz rapidly rose in competitiveness. In the 1989 season, Sainz started with four retirements but then finished on the podium in three rallies in a row. His team-mate, by then two-time world champion Juha Kankkunen, also gave the Celica GT-Four ST165 its debut win at the inaugural Rally Australia.
In the 1990 season, Sainz drove his GT-Four to victory at the Acropolis Rally, at the Rally New Zealand, at the 1000 Lakes Rally, as the first non-Nordic driver, and at the RAC Rally, claiming his first world drivers' title, ahead of Lancia's Didier Auriol and Kankkunen, ending the Italian marque's domination of the drivers' world championship since the advent of the Group A era of the sport in 1987.
In 1991, Sainz narrowly failed to defend his title against a resurgent Lancia-mounted Kankkunen, his efforts capped by a dramatic roll of his Celica which left him in a neckbrace. Both Sainz and Kankkunen took five wins, the first time in the history of the WRC that two drivers had managed such win tally during one season. Sainz led Kankkunen by one point going into the final round of the season, the RAC Rally, where Kankkunen took his third title by winning ahead of Kenneth Eriksson and Sainz. Kankkunen's and Sainz's point totals, 150 and 143, both broke the record set by Sainz a year earlier (140).
Aboard the new ST185 Toyota Celica in the 1992 season, in a year that would prove the last for the foreseeable future for Lancia, Sainz managed to score memorable victories on the Safari Rally and on his home asphalt round, the Rally Catalunya. The title fight again went down to the wire, and this time in a three-way battle; before the RAC, Sainz led Kankkunen by two points and Auriol, who had taken a record six wins during the season, by three points. Sainz's victory ahead of Ari Vatanen and Kankkunen, combined with Auriol's retirement, confirmed the title in favour of the Spaniard.
A limited number of 440 Celica GT-Four ST185s, carrying his name on a plaque in the vehicle, and with decals on the outside, were sold in the United Kingdom in 1992 in an attempt to capitalise on Sainz's two championship successes with the works team. These were the part of the 5,000 units of ST185 for WRC homologation. It is said that Sainz still keeps a Celica GT-Four given to him by Toyota, which he drives to Real Madrid games at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Lancia (1993)
Such success, however, failed to coerce Sainz into staying with Toyota for the 1993 season. Instead, he moved to the private but Lancia-backed Jolly Club team with which he would go on to endure a winless year. Sainz's only podium finish was his second place at the Acropolis Rally, and he finished eighth in the drivers' championship. Meanwhile, Lancia's factory team refugees Kankkunen and Auriol switched in the other direction to take his place at Toyota Team Europe, resulting in a title double for Toyota and Kankkunen.
Subaru (1994–95)
Sainz then chose to drive for the then fledgling Subaru World Rally Team in 1994, reaching the unprecedented heights of second in the championship standings for them, behind Auriol. In the 1995 season, he won the Monte Carlo Rally, the Rally Portugal and the Rally Catalunya, and tied the lead in the drivers' world championship with his young team-mate Colin McRae before the season-ending RAC Rally. McRae won his home event 36 seconds ahead of Sainz, taking the title, and Subaru secured their first manufacturers' title with a triple win as the team's second young Briton, Richard Burns, finished third. Sainz was later to join McRae at both Ford and Citroën.
Ford (1996–97)
Sainz responded by rejoining Ford for the 1996 season. He spent two seasons with the squad, aboard the Ford Escort RS Cosworth and latterly, the Escort World Rally Car. In 1996, he won the inaugural Rally Indonesia and with five other podium finishes to his name, he took third place in the drivers' world championship, behind Mitsubishi's Tommi Mäkinen and Subaru's McRae. In the 1997 season, he again won the Indonesian round, along with the Acropolis Rally, but again lost the title fight to Mäkinen and McRae. However, he won the Race of Champions at the end of 1997.
Toyota (1998–99)
Sainz then departed, once again, for Toyota, partnering Didier Auriol and helping to further the Corolla World Rally Car project that had been instituted in 1997, as part of the Cologne recovery from the embarrassment of exclusion from the world championship on the penultimate round of the 1995 season.
Sainz won on his first outing for them, on the 1998 season opener Monte Carlo Rally, and later in the season, added a victory in New Zealand. The seemingly terminal blow to title rival Tommi Mäkinen's chances was his retirement on the first day of the final event of the year, the Rally Great Britain, which gave the initiative to Sainz, who now only had to score the points associated with finishing fourth in order to ensure the title. However, just 500 metres from the finish of the very last stage, he too was forced to retire with a mechanical problem. As a result, both Sainz and Toyota gifted their respective titles to rivals Mäkinen and Mitsubishi Ralliart.
A subdued season followed for Sainz in 1999, although it did at least culminate in a departing manufacturers' title for Toyota, by now fostering alternative interests in Formula One. Sainz took a total of eight podiums, but no wins, and finished fifth in the drivers' standings, behind his third-placed team-mate Auriol who had taken his only win of the season at the inaugural China Rally.
Ford (2000–02)
This was the precursor of another, three year stint with Ford, again alongside McRae, beginning with the 2000 season. He won the inaugural edition of the Cyprus round of the world championship, and finished third in the drivers' points standings.
Sainz failed to score a victory on any rally during the 2001 season, but with five podiums and four other point-scoring finishes, he managed to keep himself in the title fight throughout the very closely contested season, eventually finishing sixth in the standings, only eleven points adrift of the champion, Subaru's Richard Burns. Meanwhile, team-mate McRae took three wins and led the championship before the season-ending Rally GB, where he crashed out. Ford also lost the manufacturers' title to Peugeot.
In 2002, Sainz inherited the victory of the Rally Argentina, having provisionally finished third, by virtue of the disqualifications of the two leading Peugeots of Marcus Grönholm and Burns. This was his only win of the season, and in a close fight for the second place in the drivers' championship, behind the dominant Grönholm, Sainz finished third, one point ahead of his team-mate McRae.
Citroën (2003–05)
Effectively frozen out along with McRae at Ford, he moved to Citroën for the 2003 and 2004 seasons, with whom he was to score his final world rally victory at the 2004 Rally Argentina. Despite formally retiring at the end of the 2004 season, with a possible view to moving into the World Touring Car Championship, he was to actually find himself invited back to the WRC fold on the request of Citroën, to replace the faltering Belgian driver François Duval. Although Duval was soon to reclaim his seat, Sainz's two rallies back in the Citroën impressed many, with the now 43-year-old Spaniard posting fourth and third finishing positions respectively.
Later career
2006 saw a first participation for Sainz at the wheel of a Volkswagen in that year's Dakar Rally. In 2007, he repeated his attempt with Volkswagen. Following the resignation of Fernando Martin, he even ran, eventually in vain, for the vice-president position at his beloved football club Real Madrid C.F., for which he once trained. In 2007 Sainz won the Cross-Country Rally World Cup with the Volkswagen team. In 2008, he won the Central European Rally.[2]
Titles
| Season | Title | Car |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Spanish Rally Champion | Ford Sierra RS Cosworth |
| 1988 | Spanish Rally Champion | Ford Sierra RS Cosworth |
| 1990 | Asia-Pacific Rally Champion | Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 |
| 1990 | World Rally Champion | Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 |
| 1992 | World Rally Champion | Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD ST185 |
| 1997 | Champion of Champions | Various |
| 2008 | Dakar Series Central Europe Rally Champion | Volkswagen |
WRC victories
References
- ^ "Carlos Sainz". RallyBase. Retrieved on 17 November, 2008.
- ^ Central Europe Rally 2008 : The film of the stage
External links
- (Spanish) Official website of Carlos Sainz
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