RIYADH: Spanish sexagenarian Carlos Sainz is having the time of his life at this year’s Dakar Rally.
The 61-year-old three-time winner of motorsport’s toughest endurance test leads this year’s edition after a stamina-sapping first week in the Saudi Arabian sand by over 20 minutes.
Sainz has summoned all his guile and expertise to put himself in a prime position for a fourth overall title after the inaugural 48-hour two-part stage six in the kingdom’s Empty Quarter.
The father of Formula One driver Carlos Sainz finished the stage second to Sebastien Loeb to top the standings ahead of his Audi teammate Mattias Ekstrom to make him the man to beat going into the second week.
On Saturday’s rest day in Riyadh he told AFP he was “proud and happy” after his performance behind the wheel of his Audi Hybrid since the start of the 2024 Dakar on January 5 in Al-Ula.
“We are better prepared than last year, the main priority is reliability,” he noted, in reference to his team’s problem in that department over the past two Dakars.
“When we have such a complex car it’s only normal to worry about something going wrong.”
While Sainz sailed through the Empty Quarter, the vast expanse of desert proved catastrophic for the title prospects of three of his arch-rivals: defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, the Qatari’s Prodrive teammate Saudi Arabian Yazeed Al-Rajhi, and record 14-time Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel, a Frenchman who drives for Audi.
“Anything can happen so quickly, you can easily lose half an hour,” said Sainz.
“If you are behind a rival it’s easy to make up a lot of time on him by taking risks.
“But it’s also a certainty that due to my experience, sooner or later you’re going to make a mistake or crash,” he noted.
Sainz, a former Spanish squash champion, won two world rally titles before retiring from the WRC in 2005 to embark on a second career in off-road rallying.
He took 11th on his Dakar debut in 2006, winning in 2010, 2018 and 2020.
Despite all his success, he is on more than nodding terms with the flip side of the event, having to abandon it on no fewer than seven occasions, including last year.
While Peterhansel may hold the record for number of titles Sainz holds a proud record of his own. In 2020 aged 57 he became the oldest ever winner — a milestone he is hoping to break when this year’s edition wraps up in Yanbu on the Red Sea next Friday.
“We all want to win the Dakar,” observed Sainz.
“I imagine that for Mattias (Ekstrom) or Sebastien (Loeb), who have never won it, finishing second or third is worth nothing in their eyes.
“I am sure they will take risks, that they will put a lot of pressure on me. I will defend as best as possible.”
He rates Loeb, runner up in the last two years, as “one of the best drivers in history“
“It is clear that one day or another he will win the Dakar, we have to postpone that moment,” added the man nicknamed ‘El Matador’.
After their well-earned time-out on Saturday, Sainz and company will fire up their engines again on Sunday for stage seven which includes a 483km special as they head to Al-Duwadimi.
Evergreen Sainz holding back the sands of time to lead Dakar
https://arab.news/znseh
Evergreen Sainz holding back the sands of time to lead Dakar
- Sainz has summoned all his guile and expertise to put himself in a prime position for a fourth overall title
Iva Jovic hopes to channel Novak Djokovic on Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships debut
- American teen sensation looking to build on strong start to 2026 season
Things have been developing fast for American teenager Iva Jovic.
This time last year, she was ranked 167 in the world and had just lost in the opening round of a Challenger in Cancun.
Today, she is perched nicely at a career-high No. 20 in the world rankings, with a WTA title under her belt (in Guadalajara last year) and an Australian Open quarterfinal appearance last month.
At 18, the Californian became the youngest American woman to reach the last-eight stage at Melbourne Park since Venus Williams in 1998.
Having started 2026 with an impressive 11-3 win-loss record (semis in Auckland, final in Hobart, quarters at the Australian Open), Jovic withdrew from the WTA tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Doha to take some much-needed time off and is now in the UAE ready to make her debut at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
We caught up with Jovic on Saturday ahead of her Dubai opener against former world No. 3 Maria Sakkari.
What does it mean for you to be coming to these tournaments now that you probably were watching in the past coming to this part of the world?
I mean, it’s so special. Obviously, it’s one thing to kind of play your first WTA events and get the feel for it, but it’s a different one to be in the tournaments every week and have your ranking at a place where you can play the full calendar. So that was the goal for me, and it’s pretty incredible to have had it all as it is now and to just be here.
Obviously, I want to win every match I play. I hate to lose. But I also try to remember that just being here is an incredible accomplishment and privilege. But Dubai has been so fun. I went to the mall yesterday. I went to the top of the Burj Khalifa. So I’ve already got to do a couple of things.
The culture and everything is very cool here. It’s my first time in this part of the world, so it’s very cool to see all these new things. I feel like I’m learning a lot, so much more to come.
I know you had to pull out of the last couple of tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Doha. I’m just wondering, post-Australia, what came into that decision?
Yeah, I think I just needed a little bit more time. I think I played the most matches out of anyone in the Australian swing. It was a lot, and I’m really happy with how it went. It was a great experience, and I won a lot, right? So that’s what you want. But I also needed to rest and train a little bit to just take care of my body. And now I’m feeling good and ready to go to be here in Dubai.
With Australia, now that you’ve had a little bit of time and space since then, what was the biggest takeaways from that? And did any of it take you by surprise?
I like to think that it’s surprising but not surprising, because obviously having great results and maybe some wins weren’t expected, but I also know how hard I’ve worked, and that good things tend to come when you put in the right work. So, surprised, but also not that surprised. Again, I think it’s one thing to have a couple of those good results, but for me the most important thing is consistency. So I want to establish myself as a player who’s going deep every single week.
You’ve got Maria Sakkari in your first round. She just made the semis in Doha. How do you look ahead to that match?
That’s definitely going to be a tough one. So thank you, Alex (Eala) for giving me a tough match. She pulled my name out (during the draw), but that’s okay. I’ll forgive her. But no, that’ll be a difficult one. Maria is a fighter. I played her in doubles, first meeting in singles. I mean I’m so new on the tour, still. I haven’t played a lot of these women. But she’s a competitor. She’s been around for a while and obviously making semis last week. She’s in top form. But, you know, again, you love the battle and you want the tough matches. So hopefully I can pull through.
You got to play the world number one in a Grand Slam quarterfinal. Didn’t go your way, but I’m wondering what did you take from that experience?
Yeah, I think that obviously you want to play the best just to win, yes, but even if you don’t, to just see where you stand. I think I’ve done a good job so far of learning from every loss, and I think that’s all it is. You learn from it, and it’s just fine margins. The differences aren’t that big.
It’s just little details that you need to work on that I’ve already been working on the past couple weeks, so hopefully that can show.
I know Novak Djokovic has been sending you tips. You’ve been in contact. He’s won this tournament a bunch of times. Are you going to perhaps be like, give me some tips for this Dubai court?
Oh, my God. Well, I hope … I don’t know if I’m brave enough to do that. I’m still a little nervous when I talk to him. He’s definitely my idol, but yeah, I see him at every corner. I’m like, how many times did this guy win the tournament? I see him on every screen. But just try to be like Novak. I’m going to keep it that simple.
