London, Oct 31: Together, Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya conquered the world and suffered the cruellest of misfortune.
For 15 years and more than 150 rallies, the two Spanish drivers careered through forests and along rutted mountain roads to take the World Rally title in 1990 and 1992 before splitting up last year.
Together, they went through the agony of losing a third championship in Britain in 1998 when their Toyota expired and caught fire within sight of the end of the last stage of the final race of the season.
Next week both will be back in Wales, scene of their worst nightmare, for the closest finale in World Rally history – a four-way showdown.
Only this time they will be on opposing sides, with former co-driver Moya ready to do his utmost to prevent Sainz from winning the world championship again.



Moya is now employed as a sporting director for Subaru, whose Norwegian driver Petter Solberg is just one point behind Citroen's joint championship leaders Sainz and Frenchman Sebastien Loeb.



Briton Richard Burns, who joins Subaru next year, is five points off the lead going into next yesterday's start.



Sainz, still driving and now partnered by Marc Marti, has a chance to exorcise the terrible ghosts that still haunt him from five years ago but moya has no regrets that he is no longer alongside his compatriot.



''At the moment I don't care about Carlos,'' Moya told reporters in an interview from his home in Barcelona. ''I don't care who is in the other teams or what Carlos is doing.



''I am going to do the impossible so that petter can win. I will do absolutely the impossible. I don't care who we are fighting with, I am working for Subaru.''



''I took a decision. I said to Carlos 'I'm sorry but I cannot go with you under these conditions and that's it, end of story,''' said Moya of his decision to quit after failing to agree on money when Sainz moved to Citroen from Ford.



''A lot of people asked me whether I was happy when Carlos was leading the championship,'' added Moya, the most successful co-driver in rally history with 24 wins.



''I said no, I'm not happy. I'll be happy when Petter is leading the championship.



''I feel like a football player who has just joined a foreign team. Whether people like it or not that's not my problem,'' added Moya.


Bureau Report