In Quarantine with AUTOhebdo – The prowess of the Matador, Carlos Sainz

So yes, the number of victories of Carlos Sainz (25) in the World Rally Championship (WRC) can pale in comparison to the shovelful of success acquired by Sébastien Ogier (48) and Sébastien Loeb (79). But we're still talking about a time when the factory WRC grid could almost fill a starting grid of Formula 1 !

Adversity was exceptionally high in the 1990s. In this context, Carlos Sainz's career takes on undeniable prestige. 

In 1990, the Madrid native became the first non-Nordic to win the Rally des 1 000 Lacs, futur Rallye de Finlande, en marche vers un premier sacre mondial. Avec sa Toyota Celica GT-4 ST165, il parvient à se défaire de l’armada Lancia :

Always accompanied by his faithful co-driver Luis Moya, Carlos Sainz did it again in 1992, this time with the Celica Turbo 4WD ST185. How generous we are, here is a 52-minute summary in Spanish of this season to (re)learn oral comprehension in your LV1 classes in high school:

Transferred to Subaru in 1994, Carlos Sainz will confront the fiery Colin McRae. The most famous image from this period remains the 1995 Catalonia Rally, where the two men, fighting for the coronation, had to deal with the orders of boss David Richards. Finally, Colin McRae, after almost rushing into two members of the Prodrive team who were trying to slow him down in the final stages, will drop the pace to leave first place to his colleague. 

En 1996, Carlos Sainz trouve un environnement plus serein en compagnie de Malcolm Wilson chez M-Sport. Avec la Ford Escort, il finit encore sur le podium en 1996 et 1997, mais sa régularité ne paye pas. Le style de pilotage, en revanche, reste spectaculaire !

Carlos Sainz returned to the Toyota house in 1998, with the firm intention of bringing a third cup to the Madrid house. Unfortunately, this memorable campaign ended dramatically with the breakage of the Japanese engine 500 meters from the finish at the RAC. A heartbreaker, where Luis Moya belches several curses while before exploding the rear window in rage with his helmet:

Cohabitation with Colin McRae went better with Ford between 1999 and 2002 but no title on the horizon. So Carlos Sainz joined Citroën in 2003. With the Reds, he obtained his last two victories, in Turkey in 2003 then in Argentina a year later:

Dakar Rally

Carlos Sainz may be heading into his sixties, but the Spaniard remains a force behind the wheel. Converted into rally raiding, he won three Dakars aboard three different buggies: Volkswagen Touareg in 2010, Peugeot 3008 in 2018 and Mini John Cooper Works in 2020.

During the past decade, Carlos Sainz distinguished himself in the deserts with attack piloting similar to that of Nasser Al-Attiyah. The two men have often clashed, first within the same team in 2011, even if it meant getting very close to South American aficionados:

Rebelote in 2019, while the Qatari moved to Toyota. How do they manage to always fight for the same piece of sand when the playing field is immense?