Two legends have joined forces in search of a common goal. Carlos Sainz and Audi want to revolutionize the Dakar with an electric mechanic. Nothing new for them. The two-time world rally champion and triple winner of the Dakarian Touareg professionalized the WRC and the desert event, and the brand with the four rings also implemented important technical advances with Quattro drive in rallies and TDI and hybrid engines in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The man from Madrid analyzes all of them for AS.
Regarding the Audi Quattro in the rallies, Sainz recalls that “he hadn’t even started racing in a car, but he was a big fan of the specialty, obviously, and I remember that his arrival was brutal. They began to win all the races and revolutionized the World Championship with new technology. And then they continued at Le Mans and with this ‘mega-challenge’ of making a hybrid car for the Dakar. The Audi Quattro is an unforgettable memory. Anyone who is a rally fan remembers the Audi Quattro. And I’m not telling you the Evo 2 that they called the ‘snowplow’, which was outrageous. Just hearing it gave you goosebumps. From there the cars in the World Rally Championship, if you wanted to win, had to be four-wheel drive, and since then all the cars fighting for the championship have been four-wheel drive. It has been an innovation that has endured forever.”
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Changing third, also in the 24 Hours of Le Mans Audi left its mark: “At the height of the time when diesel was in fashion and all brands were betting on these engines, Audi went one step further, also in the legendary endurance race par excellence, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The time when diesel engines ran little passed into history, and they began to be engines with brutal performance and torque. Diesels in competition were unthinkable years ago, but then they were raced and won”, recalls Sainz. “Subsequently, the electrification trend began to be seen and Audi took advantage of the regulations and pushed to go in that direction, with hybrid cars, with less consumption, more sustainable, that recover energy when braking, etc. And they win again at Le Mans. It is a brand that has always opted for these challenges and this technological evolution”.
And now, The man from Madrid is experiencing firsthand the electric irruption in the Dakar. “This challenge is difficult, because doing the Dakar with this technology that involves four engines, a very complex car, and is a very ambitious challenge. It will require time and a good dose of preparation, and also the equality of the FIA when it comes to equating the powers. It was hard to imagine years ago, but in the end Audi has had the courage to do it, look for a concept capable of doing those five or six hundred kilometers a day. I prefer the complexity of the car and the courage to try it, simply”, says Sainz.
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But Audi’s technological adventure in competition does not stop, and the future in Formula 1 is already glimpsed. “I don’t know anything about the Formula 1 project because they just announced it recently. It’s good for the world motorsportis good for the world of Formula 1, and I am sure that Audi will take its entry into the specialty very seriously and in the future they will be fighting for important things”, he affirms. “Audi has shown this technological avant-garde, this courage to face challenges, and all this is in the DNA of the brand.” Word of a motorsport legend: Carlos Sainz.