Carlos Sousa
Carlos Sousa (born January 16, 1966 in Almada ) is a Portuguese marathon rally driver .
He made his debut in rally raid racing in 1989 at the wheel of a UMM and became Portuguese off-road champion in 1995. In 1996 he took part in the Dakar Rally for the first time , which he finished twelfth.
In 1999 he became a driver of the private Mitsubishi Portugal team and took part in rallies on Mitsubishi Pajeros and Mitsubishi L200 . In the same year he again won the Portuguese Offroad Championship. In 2000, Sousa won his first stages in the Dakar Rally , but a few days later he had a serious accident with his co-driver João Luz . A year later, he finished fifth and repeated his success in the Portuguese Offroad Championship. In 2002 he defended his title and finished fifth again in the Dakar Rally. In 2003 he achieved his best result to date with fourth place at the Dakar Rally. He also won several Bajas and rally raids and thus won the marathon rally world championship . In 2004, his last year at Mitsubishi, he was again able to celebrate numerous successes.
For the 2005 season, Sousa moved to a Nissan customer team, which competed with Nissan Navara . In his first year with his new team, he finished seventh in the Dakar Rally. In 2006 he drove another year on Nissan Navara. On the starting stage of the 2006 Dakar Rally in Portugal he was, as usual, particularly strong and was only beaten by Carlos Sainz . At the end of the rally, Sousa finished seventh overall.
In 2006 he moved to the Lagos customer team , where he took part in rallies in a VW Race Touareg II. The following year, he played with his co-driver Andreas Schulz , the 2007 Dakar Rally . This time he won the first stage. However, he lost any chance of a top position on the seventh stage because there were disagreements with his co-driver: After the team got his stuck vehicle out of the sand, Sousa drove straight on to look for a suitable place to stop where he could could safely wait for his passenger, Schulz, without getting stuck in the sand again. However, Schulz lost sight of him in the dunes and was only able to find Sousa 90 minutes later. At the end of the rally, only seventh place came out again. In 2008 he finished fifth in the Central Europe Rally .
In 2009 Sousa started again for Mitsubishi in the new Racing Lancer .
At the Dakar 2014 he started for the Chinese Haval Rally Team in a Haval H8. After the overall lead through victory on the first stage, he retired in the second stage with a turbocharger damage.
Web links
References
- ↑ http://www.dakar.com/dakar/2014/us/rider/306.html
- ↑ http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/motorsport/dakar-2014-blog-tag-2-freud-und-leid-fuer-die-chinesen-7974582.html
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sousa, Carlos |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Portuguese rally driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 16, 1966 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Almada |