Carlos Sainz Cenamor is a Spanish rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title with Toyota in 1990 and 1992, and finished runner-up four times. Constructors' world champions to have benefited from Sainz are Subaru (1995), Toyota (1999) and Citroën (2003, 2004 and 2005). In the 2018 season he was one of the official drivers of the Team Peugeot Total. He received the Princess of Asturias Sports Award in 2020.
Nicknamed El Matador, Sainz previously held the WRC record for most career starts until Finnish co-driver Miikka Anttila broke the record. He was also the first non-Nordic driver to win the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland. He came close to repeating the feat at the Swedish Rally finishing second four times and third twice. Besides WRC successes, he has won the Dakar Rally (2010, 2018, 2020), the Race of Champions (1997) and the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (1990). His co-drivers during his career were Antonio Boto, Luís Moya, Marc Martí and Lucas Cruz.
His son, Carlos Sainz Jr. is also a professional racing driver, currently competing for Scuderia Ferrari in Formula One. He also has an older brother named Antonio Sainz, who was also a rally driver.
