Lucas Cruz

Lucas Cruz Senra^[a] (born 26 December 1974 in Barcelona) is a Spanish computer engineer, mostly known as a rally racing co-driver and experienced navigator.

Lucas Cruz (2018).

Career

He started to race on 1994, when he race on the Catalonia Rally Championship. On 2001, he achieved his first victory in the Spanish Championship, together with the driver Txus Jaio on board a Ford Focus WRC, as part of the Carlos Sainz Junior Team.

After a few years racing on tarmac and gravel categories, he started to compete on off-road races with the driver José Luis Monterde, finishing the 2001 Dakar Rally as the first classified rookies and amateurs, driving a Nissan Patrol GR.^[1]

He tackled 2006 Dakar Rally as a truck co-driver for the Volkswagen Motorsport team, partnering with driver Josep Pujol.

On 2007 he signed for Mitsubishi, where he stayed for two years, along with Nani Roma as new teammate. They attended to 2007 and 2009 Dakar Rally, achieving 10th place as the best result on final classification. They also finished 2nd on Rally Transibérico and Baja Spain competitions on 2007, and 2nd again on the 2008 Baja Spain.

In May 2009, Cruz returned to Volkswagen team, this time to share the cockpit with former World Champion Carlos Sainz.^[2] The pairing achieved their first successes after winning the Rally dos Sertões^[3][4] and the Silk Way Rally.^[5] The team formed by Sainz-Cruz completed their most important achievement after winning the 2010 Dakar Rally, ahead of another two Volkswagen cars, driven by Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mark Miller, respectively.^[6][7]

Cruz has gone onto win the 2018 Dakar Rally and 2020 Dakar Rally alongside Carlos Sainz, driving for Peugeot and Mini respectively.^[8][9]

Dakar Rally results

2007	2008	2009	2010	2018	2020
13th	DNS	10th	1st	1st	1st

Notes

1. In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cruz and the second or maternal family name is Senra.

References

1. "Lucas S. Cruz". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
2. "Al Attiyah and Cruz Senra new in Volkswagen Team". 11 May 2009. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
3. "Carloz Sainz wins the Sertões International Rally 2009". 6 July 2009. Archived from the original on 18 May 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
4. "Rallye dos Sertões: Carlos Sainz takes lead in Brazil". 25 June 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
5. "Volkswagen wins Silk Way Rally". 14 September 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
6. "Sainz and Cruz: a strong unit in the Volkswagen cockpit". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
7. Eurosport, ed. (16 January 2010). "Dakar 2010 – Cars: Sainz wins first Dakar Rally". Retrieved 17 January 2010.
8. "Peugeot's Carlos Sainz Wins the 2018 Dakar Rally". The Drive. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
9. "Sainz wins 2020 Dakar Rally for X-raid Mini, Alonso 13th". motorsport.com. Retrieved 16 July 2020.

External links

• "Cruz's Profile on www.volkswagen-motorsport.com". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2010.