The MINI brand once again celebrated success at the Dakar Rally. After 9,000 kilometers on the territory of Argentina , Chile and Bolivia , MINI triumphed in this toughest competition in the world for the fourth time in a row. The crew of Nasser Al-Attiyah / Mathieu Baumel (QT/FR) crossed the finish line first in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires with their MINI ALL4 Racing after winning five of the 13 special stages.
" Last year, when I stood on the podium of this rally, I promised myself that when I was back here, I would win, " Al-Attiyah said. " It was very challenging to lead the competition from start to finish because it was extremely demanding. I am also very grateful for the result to the entire team of mechanics, whom I would like to thank now. The MINI ALL4 Racing is literally an incredible car and once again it was very pleasant to drive. "
The Dakar Rally is extremely demanding for crews. They have to deal with classic gravel roads, winding mountain roads in the Andes that lead up to an altitude of 4500 m, or the scorching Atacama desert with dunes formed by fine sand. "Dakar" is a demanding test not only of the crews, but also of their technology. Pilots and their passengers must constantly concentrate on the road.
The MINI ALL4 Racing cars once again proved their speed and versatility in this year's Dakar Rally. " MINI took four overall victories in this competition between 2012 and 2015. This clearly proved its reliability, strength and agility in a variety of conditions, " says Jochen Goller , Senior Vice President of MINI, about his cars. " Our goal for this years was to achieve great results again. And it succeeded. Five MINI ALL4 Racing cars finished in the top ten. In the end, nine MINI ALL4 Racing cars crossed the finish line, of which four drivers shared eleven stage victories. Nasser claimed overall victory. With this, we fulfilled our imaginations. This year's MINI ALL4 Racing has proven to be the best MINI we've built for competition. We are already looking forward to competing in the 2015 Endurance Championship and of course the Dakar Rally in 2016. ”
The crew of Al-Attiyah/Baumel was joined on the podium by the crew of Krzysztof Holowczyc / Xavier Panseri (PL/FR), who finished in third place. Erik van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar (NL/NL) finished fourth in their first appearance at the Dakar Rally. Vladimir Vasilyev / Konstantin Zhiltsov (RU/RU), who won the 2014 FIA Cross-Country-Rally World Championship, finished in fifth place with MINI ALL4 Racing. Aidyn Rakhimbayev / Anton Nikolaev (KZ/RU) also made it to the top ten, finishing in ninth place. Nine of the ten MINI ALL4 Racing cars that started in this year's Dakar Rally reached the finish line.
Source: Mini
