Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz were welcomed by deafening applause at the Audi Center Madrid Norte. Having just arrived in Spain after winning his fourth Dakar, ‘El Matador’ and his co-driver spoke to the press to refer to the enormous success achieved in Dakar 2024, where both managed to be first succeeded in a car. .electrocuted. They made history again with highly complex technology with Audi, in the final year of the German company’s ambitious Dakar project.
“This year is very different from last year at this point, when we came back very disappointed, with an injury, and first we had to recover from the injury and study everything that failed. And it became a complicated year because the Low and Morocco did not go well and we faced the Dakar, not to say with doubts, but with a little worry. It became the Dakar… I would put it as the most difficult in Saudi Arabia and every day is a drama in terms of stories and toughness and how things happen in a group of 8 or 10 favorites.
ACQUIRED LAST YEAR BY AUDI IN DAKAR
“This is the last bullet we have to give Audi this victory. It is a victory that, just because of the bravery of trying to win the Dakar with this type of car, it deserves it. I am lucky enough that I was the first winner. something special with this car and we were able to dedicate this victory to Audi, a milestone in the competition, the first time someone decided to make this concept car. When we knew this, we had doubts about the complexity . They explain it to you and You say: ‘good’. But when you start doing it, you see that it is very complicated. The story has a happy ending. It is a race where it is necessary to mix a lot of speed and also some strategy. I want to give you “Thanks to Lucas because he did a great job. We brought with us the fourth Touareg, the fourth with a different brand and with this unique concept car. I’m so excited.”
HE HAS NOT WON ANY STAGE
“It’s anecdotal. It’s a good thing. Because on the first day we were really going to win the stage and then suddenly we had three punctures. That day we thought we both lost for 15 or 20 minutes. We had to put air in the tire that had a slow puncture. we only had two tires. And when we got to the finish line we were already two minutes behind the first and we gained 30 minutes on Peterhansel and 20 minutes on Al-Attiyah and Loeb. And on the sand day we lost . the stage by 48 hours. two minutes because we stayed at the top of a dune with a little left. That helped us not to open the race… although one day we started second and we were opening. It was anecdotal. The Carlos of 10 years ago will do the same because against the holes, which has become the trend of this race and means that we do not win stages, they want to be like that. fate wishing us not to win in stages.”
THE FUTURE
“There are no plans today to hold the world championship. Today it will not happen. In life you cannot say, but we finished the Dakar yesterday and today there are no plans.”
“The first thing I want is to enjoy the success a little bit. Sometimes when you finish one challenge and you have another one, you don’t enjoy it. It’s great and I like to set myself challenges but like I want to enjoy these days, the victory. There are many days of great tension, like the Dakar. And we will rest a little and I am sure that in two days I will think differently. But now I want to enjoy success. The future? No “Nothing. I haven’t thought of anything yet. I want to enjoy now and have time to think.”
“I think I will be competitive all my life. I don’t think it will go away. The day I don’t care if I win or lose, what I will do is stop running because if you can’t fight, that day that you stay at home. Actually, before Going to Dakar… I had a pretty strong imagination and that imagination helped me imagine things that I was lucky enough to accomplish. Life is lived from those dreams, which motivate you to work and reach in conditions”.
I always say to Lucas: ‘the day you see that I’m going slowly and such…, tell me’. For me this is also a concern. Yesterday the speaker repeated 61 and included 61 years. But the passport or DNI number is important, but the most important thing is the numbers that appear in the hours after a special. That’s what matters most, it doesn’t matter if you’re 25, 30 or 60. That’s what matters. I hope Lucas will be honest with me and tell me: you’re faster than a polo cart and we’re going home.’ There are also people who tell me: ‘it’s time to stop.’ I said calmly. If there’s one thing I ask of the fans, it’s that they respect the moment that decided where we ended up. If I continue, I believe I have earned the right to honor that day. It’s complicated because when you like someone like me, I do a lot… and you see that you can do more… if I’m bored and I see that I’m suffering and I can’t make it and my heart is about to come out, I’ll say that’s okay. . I just don’t feel that way.”
“You may be in for a surprise. I just ask that that decision be respected.”
HOPE IS LOVE
“Something can happen because of the complexity of the project. We didn’t answer at the time the person who made that comment (that they will abandon in three days). The answer is on the table and I don’t. I want to come in now. Audi is a brand that is important and serious enough for three cars to get home in three days. It’s hard to happen. Every day there are some bullets that we have to dodge because it’s so close. But things happen to everyone, and if not Look at that list… there were 10 drivers with a chance of win and it’s a toss-up race. Loeb left us and Seb got hit by a rock, the suspension broke and we saw him stop and we knew at that moment there was no will happen… but something also happened to Peterhansel on the last day. Until you reach the finish line, anything can happen and we already know it, actively and passively.”
PREPARATION
“I knew before I went that I did the best stress test I’ve done since I did the Dakar (it’s the 17th edition). But we know that it’s the law of life that you don’t see the same as before , etc. But I prepared myself with enthusiasm, respecting the race and more than ever, that’s for sure. And almost always, when a person makes an effort, the result is usually always achieved. If I had a biological age of 45 years? I don’t think that’s the case. Because of the food? No either. That I prepared better than before? Yes. But I’m not Superman and nothing special. There’s a lot of enthusiasm and humility and every year you have to work hard because you are older. I have a very good team and Lucas, who made a fantastic rally. And I contributed my grain of sand and that’s it. To fight the kids in Dakar you have to prepare a lot, without a doubt, because I don’t feel like struggling and finish the episodes saying I can’t or half. stage, put your foot up because you can’t give anymore. This year it’s the other way around. We’ve maintained the pace. “People were waiting for a human or technical failure to come and it didn’t come.”
THE DANGERS OF DAKAR
“In a 48-hour period there were 600 km of dunes. When they put us on the plane, I fell asleep and woke up in a nightmare, surprised, thinking I had fallen behind a dune. It was dune, dune, dune and broken and cut dunes.’ Damn after hell… it’s an exercise in discipline. Sometimes you brake more than you want, but enough is enough that when you’re cresting a dune you don’t brake enough and you wreck the car, or wreck the whole thing front end when you land here. the top of the next one, or what happened to you last year. And in the places of rocks it is enough for a rock that is a little to the right or to the right. go away and go home.”
LOEB AND THE DAKAR GESTURE
Sainz: “We went out to the stage knowing that we were risking the rally there. At kilometer 100 or so, when we were first because we started very strong, suddenly in the trial area with tremendous rocks, you have to exercise. in discipline of pass at two per hour. We saw him raise the car and there were so many rocks that I couldn’t look. You were looking ahead 20 or 30 meters. I couldn’t look and lose sight of the rocks. because you kind of went to a side and you might get punctured. I saw him make a gesture but I didn’t have time. Then Lucas told me he had a problem with the engine because he took off his helmet. And immediately. do the calculations: if we start 13 minutes earlier and we passed him, that means we gained 10 minutes because he was ahead, so we gained another 20 minutes. But we don’t know if he will fix it or not, when you pass you don’t know if he will start or not.. The day before he was stopped, we passed by and then stopped. “You know your movie, but you don’t know the other guy’s movie.”
“I saw the gesture in the video and it was appreciated. I think it tells us to be calm that “I have stayed here and the rally is gone.”
Lucas Cruz: “You don’t know how long to stop. You have 20 minutes, but you don’t know if I’m going to fix the car fast enough. So we can’t pick up the pace and you have to stay focused. Then at the end we had moderately slow puncture and we had to change the tyre. Slowing down causes your concentration to drop.
COMPETIVENESS IN YOUR CHILD
“I want, if possible, to lead by example. If you tell him you have to do things this way or that and then you don’t do it, you have no credibility. I tried to be a coherent person . I tried to convey to Carlos how I understood the world of competition and racing and what is right and wrong. When it’s your turn to do what you’re supposed to do and your child sees that you’re not doing it… well, of course you’re not. I’ve tried to set an example. If you I say this do this, I’ll be the first to do it.”
COST OF SUCCESS
“The older you get, the more you enjoy it. And because of how it has been with Audi, it has a special value, without a doubt.”
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.
