Carlos Sainz was born to be a winner. Long before he’d caught the eye of Ford Motorsport bosses, Sainz was already a sensation.
Even before he took up rallying in 1980, he had excelled in other sports, was rumoured to have had trials with top-level Spanish football clubs, and was known to have social connections with the Spanish royal family.
Later in his stellar career, it is said, the Spanish king’s staff turned up for work one morning in Madrid, and wondered what the rubber markings outside the main entrance were all about: Sainz had been demonstrating what ‘doing doughnuts’ was all about.
Starting with a humble front-wheel-drive Renault 5 TS, he soon climbed the ladder, and really made his name in Spain in midengined Renault 5 GT Turbos, where he won the Spanish championship in 1986.
It was then that Ford first
