“I don’t think Sainz will run the Dakar again. I don’t know what his plans are, but I think he will definitely retire.”he said in 2018 Ari Vatanenlegend of the rally Finnish, predicting a farewell that did not materialize after Sainz’s victory in the 2018 Dakar, which was his second Dakar title. What the Nordic man did not think at the time was that Carlos Sainz would not only continue with two more projects, but that he would achieve two more bronze ‘touaregs’ for the equivalent of 4 Homeland he succeeded in his time in Dakar.
This Friday, Carlos Sainz equaled the legendary Finnish driver with four titles after winning the Dakar Rally 2024 with a display of speed, power and brilliance at the wheel of his Audi RS Q e-Tron, with his co-pilot Lucas Cruz.
In this way, in the list of drivers with the most Dakar titles, the Spaniard surpassed three of those who died recently. René Metge and Pierre Lartigue.
In that list, he was surpassed only by Nasser Al-Attiyah, with five crowns, two of them won consecutively in the two previous editions, and Stéphane Peterhansel, with 8 in cars (in addition to achieving another 6 in motorcycles for a total of 14 crowns).
The drivers with the most Dakar titles:
- 8 Dakar titles: Stephane Peterhansel
- 5 titles: Nasser Al-Attiyah
- 4 titles: Ari Vatanen (3 in a row) and Carlos Sainz
- 3 crowns: René Metge, Pierre Lartigue (3 in a row)
- 2 titles: Hiroshi Masuoka and Jean-Louis Schlesser
- 1 Dakar won by cars: Giniel de Villiers, Patrick Zaniroli, Kenjiro Shinozuka, Joan ‘Nani’ Roma and Jutta Kleinschmidt
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
