LONDON, 7 June 2005 — Spain’s Carlos Sainz has been persuaded to stay out of retirement for one more rally after scoring valuable points for Citroen on a ‘one-off’ comeback in Turkey at the weekend. Citroen said the two times world champion had agreed to team boss Guy Frequelin’s request that he do them ‘a final favor’ and compete in the next round in Greece from June 24-26 as well.
“My mind is made up. I have no intention of staging a comeback to the world rally championship,” the 43-year-old told Frequelin.
“This will be my final contribution to what you and everyone at Citroen have built together and which I hope continues to be as successful as possible.”
Sainz, winner of more world championship rallies than any other driver, agreed to drive for the champions in Turkey as a replacement for crash-prone Belgian Francois Duval.
The Spaniard finished fourth on Sunday with championship leading team mate Sebastien Loeb winning his fourth rally in succession. The points allowed Citroen to pile pressure on leaders Peugeot, who have 72 points to their French stable mates’ 68.
“What Carlos brought us this weekend was fantastic, especially given the conditions which...were particularly difficult,” said Frequelin adding “but that’s how you recognize a great driver. On top of that, the team derived such pleasure from working with him again that I naturally asked him to stand-in for us one final time.”
“I am aware that I am asking him to make another big effort. But I have sworn to respect his request not to ask him any more to drive a WRC car in the world rally championship.”
