“We only have one thing on our mind: winning”
Crew facts
CS:
- Carlos Sainz enters his 19th Dakar Rally with his name firmly on the list of favourites to lift the Touareg trophy yet again. The two-time world rally champion (1990 and 1992) made his mark on the sport and is now also among the icons of this legendary race, which he first competed in back in 2006, whilst still in Africa.
- His early sporting career was distant from motorsport; in fact, he was the Spanish squash champion at 16.
- His obsessions with detail and perfection are two traits that have always defined him since he began racing in rallies in the 1980 Shalymar, aboard a Renault 5 TS.
- His competitive spirit left its mark on a generation of fans with his two WRC titles and 26 victories. So much so that, in a poll conducted by the official World Championship website in 2020, international fans voted him the greatest of all time.
- The Madrid native made history in 2024 with Audi and Lucas Cruz by becoming the first to win the Dakar Rally with an electric-powered vehicle, the same year he became a grandfather for the first time.
- That victory added another highlight to an unrivalled career, which has seen him win an impressive four Touaregs with four different brands (2010 with Volkswagen, 2018 with Peugeot, 2020 with MINI). With Ford M-Sport, he is aiming for a fifth victory this January.
LC
- Lucas Cruz is more than just Carlos Sainz's right-hand man in the world of rally raids. The Catalan co-driver, a computer engineer by profession, has contributed to all four of the legendary driver's Dakar Rally victories.
- Shy and patient like few others, he never imagined he would be competing alongside one of his childhood idols, let alone have his name written in the history books of this legendary rally.
- Fate led him to rally competition at the age of 20, when an acquaintance from his father's garage was left without a co-driver for a local rally and asked him to join him.
- The opportunity of a lifetime would come four years later, when he joined, as he confesses, 'by chance', the programme for promising young drivers that Sainz himself initiated with Peugeot.
- In 2001, he made his debut in the Dakar Rally with Nani Roma as his co-driver for two editions. But in 2009, he received a call from Sainz asking him to join him at Volkswagen.
- In their first Dakar together, they became the first Spaniards in history to win the world's toughest rally.
- Since then, they have competed together 16 more times, and in 2026, they will be fighting for their fifth Touareg with their fifth different constructor.
Ambition
C.S.: "We're more confident than last year because we've covered more kilometres and know the car a little better. In a race where reliability is key, all this means you can approach the Dakar with a little more confidence and optimism. Now that we all have the same weight, roughly the same power, and the same tyres, the difference will be the car that doesn't encounter mechanical issues and best optimises the suspension. We are facing an edition where more than 15 vehicles can fight for victory. When there is such a strong field of fast drivers from different generations and so many brands, it makes it more interesting. The competition will be fierce and a lot of fun for spectators. It doesn't change our approach much, since the pace will be fast from the start, and it's important not to have too many bad days.
With this new generation of drivers, the number of potential winners has increased. We saw it in the Morocco Rally. [Sébastien] Loeb, [Nasser] Al Attiyah will always be there, along with Nani [Roma] and me. Still, there will also be Mattias [Ekström] and Mitch [Guthrie], Lucas Moraes —world champion—, Seth Quintero, Joao Ferreira, Henk Lategan... a series of drivers who have first-rate cars and are very fast, and I'm sure I'm leaving some out. But our goal is clear: when you've won four times, you can only have one thing in mind —to win it again”.
L.C.: “We're eager to make up for last year, which was a huge disappointment, but these things can happen in racing. We've done our homework and are very well prepared, having run quite a few races this season, which can help. In recent years, with the new FIA balance of performance, you can make a difference with suspension work. And that's where we have to make our mark, or at least try to. Let's hope all the work the entire Ford M-Sport team has done this year will pay off at Dakar.
It's not going to be easy, that's for sure; strategy will be essential during the first few days, because your starting position on each stage will be a key factor that could make the difference in the race. There are some very determined people in this new batch of competitors, eager to fight hard, to show they are there to win, and to be in the top three every day. And we have to be calm and calculated at all times. That will make the difference, as we demonstrated in 2024. What is clear to us is that we have a new opportunity for victory.”
