Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz Cenamor (born April 12, 1962 in Madrid, Spain) is a Spanish rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title with Toyota in 1990 and 1992, and finished runner-up four times. Constructors' world champions to have benefited from Sainz are Subaru (1995), Toyota (1999) and Citroën (2003, 2004 and 2005).

Nicknamed El Matador, Sainz holds the WRC record for most career starts. He was also the first driver not from Scandinavia or Finland to win the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland, and finished the Swedish Rally second four times and third twice, in this case without ever breaking the trend. Besides WRC successes, he has won the Dakar Rally (2010), the Race of Champions (1997) and the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (1990). His co-drivers were Antonio Boto, Luís Moya and Marc Martí.

His son, Carlos Sainz, Jr., born in September 1994, won the 2009 Junior Monaco Kart Cup and began a professional formula racing career.