Carlos Sainz can be concentrating on a fifth Dakar Rally title when the 2025 version performs out from Jan. 3-17 throughout Saudi Arabia’s rocky terrain and iconic sand dunes, and acknowledged he’s needed to make some changes making ready for the world’s hardest endurance race on the age of 62.
After successful two World Rally Championship titles in 1990 and ’92, Sainz — father of Formulation 1 racer Carlos Sainz Jr. — has change into a mainstay of the Dakar with 4 titles to his title in 2010, ’18, ’20 and ’24. “El Matador” returns in 2025 trying so as to add a file fifth win with a fifth totally different producer, this time debuting a brand new Ford Raptor T1+. He’ll draw on a wealth of expertise to navigate his manner over the route that covers 7,759 kilometers/4,821 miles unfold throughout 12 timed particular phases from Bisha to the Empty Quarter desert.
Here’s what the Madrid native needed to say in regards to the problem forward:
How do you put together your self bodily for the distinctive challenges of the Dakar?
“Clearly with age, I’ve needed to adapt my coaching program. I work with a crew of pros and so they know me very properly. The truth is that I’m working rather more on health than I did once I was youthful. As of late I’m dedicating extra time to the cardio a part of my preparation. I at all times say that I choose to endure at dwelling, so I don’t endure a lot on the Dakar.”
A collaboration between Ford Efficiency and M-Sport, new Ford Raptor T1+ options Coyote-based 5.0 V8 engine and superior suspension with adjustable Fox bypass dampers. Kin Marcin/Crimson Bull Content material Pool
What helps you and co-driver Lucas Cruz make sense of the roadbook?
“We get the roadbook only a few minutes earlier than we begin the stage, not the day earlier than prefer it was once. It’s as much as the co-drivers to have a very good understanding of it and us drivers should assist as a lot as potential. Once we arrive to tough locations, we work collectively to seek out the best manner.”
How did you win the 2024 Dakar with out attaining a single stage win?
“To win the Dakar Rally you must have a very good technique, plus you have to be quicker than the others. In 2024 the rally went properly for us. The 48-hour Chrono stage was strategically vital. We determined to not begin that stage close to the entrance and, for that, we misplaced a while on the day past.
“So we had a very good beginning place and we gained the primary a part of the 48-hour stage. On the second half, we received caught within the dunes and misplaced some minutes. Sébastien Loeb ended up successful the stage, however we weren’t far behind in second. The remainder was fairly difficult, plenty of excessive pace and tough phases. We had a very good battle with Seb till the penultimate stage.”
Are you able to elaborate extra on the 48-hour Chrono stage, the Dakar Rally’s newest innovation?
“The 48-hour Chrono stage is now a vital a part of the Dakar. It’s two days with none service out of your crew. You sleep in a tent within the desert and it depends upon your pace the place you find yourself sleeping and who else is there. In 2025, it is vitally early within the rally, principally the second day. It will likely be so vital to get it proper, particularly for us with a brand new automotive.”
Sainz’s work station for the 2025 Dakar Rally. Kin Marcin/Crimson Bull Content material Pool
Do you keep in mind a very powerful stage and the way it made you endure?
“I can say that one stage in South America stands out. It was extraordinarily scorching and I suffered from dehydration. Generally in South America, we had temperatures reaching 45 levels Celsius [113F] and that was the case throughout this significantly demanding stage. I keep in mind it affected me very badly.”
What Dakar Rally rule modifications would you make?
“It could be the beginning order. Whenever you’re a manufacturing unit driver and you’ve got an issue on one stage, I feel it may be harmful to start out up to now again the subsequent day as a result of you find yourself overtaking so many vehicles. Along with this, I might change the space of the sentinel [an alert system that can be activated when you are 250 meters behind a slower vehicle that you want to pass]. It will be good to extend the sentinel vary by one other 100 meters as a result of this might assist to keep away from accidents.”
What are probably the most outrageous Dakar tales that you’ve heard?
“I keep in mind at my second Dakar, I completed a stage and a bunch of journalists got here speeding in the direction of me. They had been all asking me about an issue with my co-driver. Apparently, there was a narrative among the many press that I’d had a disagreement with my co-driver and left him within the desert. Clearly, the story was not true! The journalists had mistaken me with one other competitor, Carlos Souza.
“The reality is that we had all received caught up in a really robust sandstorm and so they needed to cancel the stage. Souza and his co-driver Andy Schulz — who was my co-driver at my first Dakar — received out to free their automotive from the sand, then Souza received again in his automotive and drove for 200 meters earlier than he realized Andy was nonetheless outdoors. Due to the huge sandstorm, they couldn’t discover one another once more for a protracted, very long time. It was solely once I received again to the bivouac that I received to listen to the total story.”
