Dakar Rally: Audi’s Carlos Sainz wins for a fourth time – at 61 years old
- Sainz takes title without winning any individual stages, and is the first to win with a car powered by an electric drive train
- Sebastien Loeb wins final stage for Bahrain Raid Xtreme team, but has to settle for third overall behind Guillaume de Mevius for Overdrive Toyota
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, 61-year-old father of the namesake Ferrari Formula One driver, won the Dakar Rally for the fourth time in Saudi Arabia on Friday with Audi taking a first title in the car category.
American Honda rider Ricky Brabec won the motorcycling category for the second time in the 46th edition of the gruelling two-week race.
Sainz finished the 12th and final stage in Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast, with a lead of one hour 20 minutes and 25 seconds over Belgian Guillaume de Mevius for Overdrive Toyota with France’s Sebastien Loeb third.
Loeb, a nine times world rally champion who had been Sainz’s biggest rival until mechanical problems ended his challenge on Thursday, won the final stage in a Prodrive Hunter for the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team.
Sainz has now won the Dakar with four different manufacturers – Volkswagen in 2010, Peugeot in 2018 and Mini in 2020 – and he did it this time without winning any of the individual stages.