What a machine, and what a way to use it. As Motorsport.com reports, rally legend Carlos Sainz took victory at the Rally de Asturias Historico after driving a WRC Ford Puma Rally1 car for his very first time in competition. The 10-stage asphalt event in Spain was held to pay tribute to his illustrious career, and the 64-year-old (yes, that Carlos Sainz) made sure it was a weekend to remember.
To make the magic complete, he teamed up with his long-time co-driver Luis Moya to tackle the 126.66 competitive kilometres. But this was no exhibition stroll. Sainz faced fierce competition from nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb and four-time WRC rally winner Francois Delecour, both of whom piloted examples of the iconic Peugeot 306 Maxi.
Loeb came out swinging, winning the opening three stages to race into a 24.9s lead over Sainz as the crews headed to the first service. Sainz hit back hard, winning two of the next three stages before inheriting the lead when Loeb's 306 Maxi suffered a clutch failure in stage eight. From there, Sainz brought the beast home to take the win by 1min03.6s from Delecour.
“Excitement, yes, but excitement above all for the weekend,” said Sainz at the finish line. “The result is secondary. The weekend has been amazing, because of the people, and I’m happy with how well the race went.”
“We were a little worried about the large crowds; we didn’t know exactly how many people there would be, but when we saw how many there were… and in the end, everything turned out well, and I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to show us their support, of course the organisers, and, as I said on the first day, Ford and Red Bull, who are the ones who made it possible for us to be here.”
Sainz clocked up 196 WRC starts during his career, recording 26 wins and 97 podium finishes, driving Toyota, Subaru, Lancia, Ford and Citroen machinery. Since calling time on his WRC career at the end of 2005, Sainz has remained active competing in rally-raid, winning the famous Dakar Rally four times in 2010, 2018, 2020, and 2024. He also joined Ford’s factory World Rally-Raid Championship programme for 2025 and is sitting ninth in the championship standings this season.
