Dakar Rally: Carlos Sainz: “When you put on a helmet, it doesn’t matter what the DPR says” | Kinds of sports

Carlos Sainz Senamore (Madrid, 61) has a great opportunity to win the Dakar Rally again in 2024. The Audi driver, who is participating in the event for the 17th time, opens the second week of competition today as an outstanding leader, ahead of his closest pursuer, his teammate Mattias Ekström, for more than 20 minutes. He dreams of his fourth Touareg, the first of the German brand, and wants to follow sports news without commenting…

Carlos Sainz Senamore (Madrid, 61) has a great opportunity to win the Dakar Rally again in 2024. The Audi driver, who is participating in the event for the 17th time, opens the second week of competition today as an outstanding leader, ahead of his closest pursuer, his teammate Mattias Ekström, for more than 20 minutes. He dreams of his fourth Touareg, the first of the German brand, and wants to stick to sports news without commenting on the recent controversy over some contrary words from government president Pedro Sánchez, which he believes come from a private individual. conversation. Relaxed, smiling and relaxed after the visit of FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta (this Sunday they will play the Super Cup final against Real Madrid in Saudi Arabia), at the Riyadh bivouac where the caravan rested this Saturday, he visits EL PAIS, before resuming the march.

Ask. It’s been 18 years since you first came to Dakar. Did this event seduce you the most?

Reply. I devote my time to the World Rally Championship, which has been my passion, my life and my everything. I liked it like no one else. Then came my time in Dakar and when I tried it I didn’t even know if I would like it or not. I saw that I liked it and the second part of my sports career began, of sorts, and the truth is that it lasted much longer than I thought at first contact.

TO. Who inspired you to go on this adventure?

R. One of the main culprits was Colin McRae, who raced before me, and one day in Mallorca, when he came to visit, he told me: “This race is made for you, you will have a lot of fun, you will love it, you have to prove it.” ” And that’s how I did it, and I’m still here.

TO. Do you have to be vain to compete with the best racers?

R. I wouldn’t call it vanity. If I’m here, it’s because I think I can fight for victory, because I think I still have the ability, the motivation, the desire, in short, everything it takes to fight for the Dakar. Yes, it’s true that at my age I go from Dakar to Dakar every day. I know this, but when you put on a helmet, it’s not what’s on the credential that matters, it’s the weather. I think at this stage of my sporting career I have earned the right to decide how long I want to stay and that decision is respected.

TO. Do you work more with sensations or data?

R. It’s difficult to work without data now, but it’s true that in this sport, sensations matter a lot. Here you cannot measure the top ten, as on the track, the driver’s feelings are important here, and then the data, of course. This machine is a supercomputer, it’s like a spaceship. Surely there is no such complex vehicle in the whole world.

TO. Are you more or less nervous when you are closer or farther away from your goal?

R. Don’t be nervous at this moment. On the contrary, proximity motivates me. At the same time, I realize… do you see my gray hair? I’ve seen them in all the colors like the others, wow. Everything happened to my colleagues, Matthias and Stefan, but people only remember what they want. This is a sport where anything can happen at any moment. This year we are going at the same pace, so we will try to continue, enjoy it and face the second week with the same attitude and good strategy.

TO. But he works all year round and can explode in a matter of seconds…

R. This is additional pressure for everyone, not just me. Imagine what Nasser or Yazid and Stefan will be like today. Any favorite who loses a race has been working for the opposite result all year. Sometimes things go well, and sometimes things go wrong. They will be upset like I was last year after the accident. At least some of them were able to continue, which even I couldn’t…

TO. Who is the biggest enemy at the moment: you or rivals like Ekström and Loeb?

R. Overall, the distance we have over Matthias and Sebastian is nothing in this rally. As a team, Audi is in a great situation and we must try to take advantage of this great opportunity that has presented itself to us.

TO. How has the rally changed since its debut in 2006 until now?

R. Something, but not much. The DNA of the Dakar remains the same. There were ups and downs, more or less difficult years, others when they tried to create a road book, but it ended in disaster. The DNA remains and that means trying to push the drivers, the team and the car, everyone who comes, to the limit. What changed the most was the rhythm. Now it goes out completely and precisely by the method of elimination, and not as before.

TO. Nani Roma told me the other day that it took you a while to learn to run…

R. Clear. This is a career where experience is needed. Even when you have it, you make mistakes. You have to remember that you are always going through places you have never been before.

TO. Were you confident that you came and won from the very beginning?

R. I don’t think so. I haven’t changed my approach to the race too much. What I have changed is managing my frustrations. I tried to learn not to go out faster the day after something happened to me. Perhaps the impatience that I have by nature did not play a good joke on me in some cases.

TO. What is the most important element before Dakar?

R. Respect. The Dakar should be treated with respect from the very first moment you decide to take part, especially as part of an official team. You must respect the preparation, the physical condition. Spending six hours dune hopping like we did is something you can’t miss. And then there’s the team… it’s a race that you have to respect from every possible angle, remembering that nothing is completely decided.

TO. This Dakar there was more talk about generational change than ever before. Do you think this is reasonable?

R. I see myself ready for tomorrow, and then the next day. When the race is over, it will be time to think about what the future will look like. Right now, in the medium or long term, I’m not looking at anything specific.

TO. Toyota said it talked to you, Ford too, what’s true?

R. Yes, Ford is the way of the future. Now I am not concentrating on this, but on Audi, on tomorrow. Now is not the time to think too far ahead, especially considering what lies ahead for me at this stage of my sports career.

TO. Sven Quandt, Audi’s project manager, admitted that victory was the best way to say goodbye. Would you feel the same way if you applied it to yourself?

R. I don’t know. Until Saturday comes, I don’t know what will happen. I’m not considering anything else. I know I have a purpose and I dedicate all my thoughts and energy to it. I try to be positive and the dream remains the same as always: to win this race.

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