FORD

 LC 

• Lucas Cruz is more than just Carlos Sainz's right-hand man in the world of rally raids. The Catalan co-driver, a computer engineer by profession, has contributed to all four of the legendary driver's Dakar Rally victories.
• Shy and patient like few others, he never imagined he would be competing alongside one of his childhood idols, let alone have his name written in the history books of this legendary rally.
• Fate led him to rally competition at the age of 20, when an acquaintance from his father's garage was left without a co-driver for a local rally and asked him to join him.
• The opportunity of a lifetime would come four years later, when he joined, as he confesses, 'by chance', the programme for promising young drivers that Sainz himself initiated with Peugeot.
• In 2001, he made his debut in the Dakar Rally with Nani Roma as his co-driver for two editions. But in 2009, he received a call from Sainz asking him to join him at Volkswagen.
• In their first Dakar together, they became the first Spaniards in history to win the world's toughest rally. 
• Since then, they have competed together 16 more times, and in 2026, they will be fighting for their fifth Touareg with their fifth different constructor.