“This year, or never”

Sixty-one-year-old Carlos Sainz has lost none of his trademark competitive spirit. The twice world rally champion from Madrid (1990 and 1992), who marked an era in the discipline, is looking for his fourth Dakar victory (2010, 2018 and 2020) and wants to do it in style: becoming the first driver to do it with a vehicle powered by electric motors and a range extender (3 MGU05s from Formula E and a TFSI 2.0 engine from the DTM). But this year is like a farewell and a last chance to make history, as Audi Sport will compete in its third and final Dakar as a factory team following its new venture into Formula 1 for the 2026 season. Sainz is a genuine reference in rallying circles, although his sporting beginnings began in a very different discipline, squash. He was the Spanish champion at the age of 16. His obsession with detail and perfection are two traits that have always defined him since he started racing a rally car. In fact, it was his competitive spirit that made a mark on a generation of fans with his two WRC titles and 26 championship victories. In a vote on the official World Rally Championship website in 2020, fans from around the world voted him the greatest ever, ahead of even nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb. Sainz's desert adventures began in 2006 with Volkswagen, where he competed in the last two editions of the Dakar in Africa. However, it was not until 2010, in South America, that he and his inseparable co-driver Lucas Cruz enjoyed lifting the famous Touareg trophy into the sky. They repeated the feat with Peugeot in 2018 and Mini X-Raid in 2020. In2023, after recovering from the two fractured vertebrae he suffered on last year's Dakar, he has competed in the Baja Aragon and Morocco Rally, as well as logging several thousand test kilometres in the Audi RS Q e-tron E2 and serving as team boss of his own Extreme E team. The regulations have given the Audi Sport team 15kW (20bhp) more power than its main rivals, although they will still be around 100 kg heavier than the Toyota and Prodrive 4x4s. Sainz and Cruz look forward to providing the coup de grace to the German manufacturer's unique and difficult-to-repeat project. It will be their 10th Dakar together, and they will seek their fourth Touareg with a fourth different manufacturer. "El Matador" isn't ready to hang up his helmet and wants to continue to add to his legacy.

C.S.: “We are approaching this Dakar knowing that it will be the last year for Audi Sport, that it is this year or never. We are eager to win for the team and the brand. After what we experienced last year, we hope to be more competitive with the extra kW given to us by the FIA, although we are still 100 kg heavier than our rivals. Even so, I'm confident we can fight head-to-head with them.”
“Due to the project's complexity, we knew it would take a little longer than three years to achieve victory. But we have been working as hard as we can since just before the summer, especially on the suspension, to avoid having the problems we had last January. It won't be easy. But I think we can fight for the win and from the start race with the Toyotas and Prodrive. In that sense, we think we should be more competitive than last year. I don't think it's my last dance. We'll see if there is a project that excites me in the future. I always analyse the race when I go home and will continue to do so.”


L.C.: “The objective is the same as always: to try to win, but we know it won't be easy. We have based our preparation for the Dakar on solving the small problems we have been having during testing and last January. The team has worked 100% to have a competitive car within the regulations. The main handicap we will have when fighting for victory will be the weight, which will affect us not only in acceleration but also in braking, cornering and on rough terrain. But the energy and the desire to achieve a historic victory are there, and we are all extremely motivated. I am privileged to continue doing what I like and at the highest level with Carlos. We are only thinking about victory and are going for it”.