Two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz has won wrc.com’s fan vote to discover the Greatest WRC driver of all time.
The Spaniard beat 19 other world championship drivers – including Sébastien Loeb in the final of the competition, where Sainz took 57.28% of the 80,000 votes cast in the last play of the month-long Pirelli-backed tournament.
Sainz, who won his third Dakar Rally in January, was delighted with another WRC win to add to the 26 event victories he garnered in an 18-year career at the top of world rallying.
“I cannot be more happy and more proud about this recognition,” he said. “Thank you very much for bringing me first to the final and, of course, secondly for allowing to me to win this recognition against Sébastien Loeb.
“I don’t need to tell you how much I rate Sébastien Loeb and how much he deserves to be the greatest. But I have to say not only him, all the world champions merit this recognition. But somebody has to win and, in this case, it has been myself.
“I gave everything to rallying. Rallying has been my life, rallying has been my dream and today rallying and the whole family of rallying is giving me a big smile and this big recognition,” he added.
Credit: Red Bull
WRC Promoter registered more than 300,000 in the entire competition.
“Firstly, my congratulations to Carlos for adding the title of The Greatest WRC Driver to his numerous achievements,” said Oliver Ciesla, managing director of WRC Promoter.
“He was already a WRC legend thanks to his incredible driving skills in the most brutally tough and unforgiving terrain on the planet. This accolade confirms the esteem in which he is held by both fans and pundits. He is known as King Carlos – now he is officially the King of the WRC!
“Sébastien is statistically the most successful driver in WRC history. But we wanted fans to think beyond the numbers in choosing their greatest.
“The popularity of this competition far exceeded our hopes. We wanted it to provide some fun for our fans when there is no WRC action, but its popularity grew and grew across the media. To receive more than 300,000 votes is remarkable – a big thanks to everyone who took part.”
