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2017 Dakar Rally

11 January 2017

2017 Dakar Rally – Stage 8:
Uyuni – Salta

4^th place stage finish for Hirvonen
Terranova completes today’s stage in 6^th
Four MINI remain in the overall top 10

Munich. The poor weather conditions continued for Stage 8 of
the 2017 Dakar yesterday, with the organisers making the decision to
shorten another section of the route. The first change to the road
book was made early in the day with the shortening of the first part
of the special by 73km to restart at the border with Argentina.
Additional changes were made later in the day when it became clear
that flooding on the road to Salta made it impossible for any
vehicles to reach the planned end point. Race organisers have now
confirmed that today’s Stage 9, including the Super Belen, will be
cancelled – the decision means that 42% (1,400 km) of so far planned
special stages (3,300 km) have been called off due to poor weather.

Yesterday’s difficult conditions meant that there was not much change
in positions with most of the MINI family competitors maintaining
their overall position. Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) and Michel Perin (FRA)
once again secured a 4^th place stage finish in the #303
MINI John Cooper Works Rally car to remain in 5^th place in
the overall standings.

Just two places behind them in the stage was the #308 MINI John
Cooper Works Rally car of Orlando Terranova (ARG) and Andreas Schulz
(GER). The pairing remained on form with another consistent
performance that saw them maintain 7^th position overall.

Completing the top ten in yesterday’s stage finish was fellow MINI
John Cooper Works Rally driver Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and co-driver
Timo Gottschalk (DEU). Their official overall position is still
subject an appeal.

Jakub Przygonski (POL) and Tom Colsoul (BEL) were in the first MINI
ALL4 Racing car (#316) to complete the stage in 14^th. They
also held on to their place in the overall standings in 8^th.

The remaining MINI ALL4 Racing pairings also completed Stage 8 with
Mohamed Abu Issa (QAT) and Xavier Panseri (FRA) finishing in 17th, one
place ahead of Boris Garafulic (ARG) and co-driver Filipe Palmeiro
(POR) in the #314 MINI ALL4 Racing car. Sylvio de Barros (BR) and
Rafael Capoani (BR) finished the stage in 20^th position,
two places in front of Stephan Schott (GER) and Paulo Fiuza (POR) in 22^nd.

2017 Dakar Rally: MINI Family standings overall after Stage 8.

Position

Driver

Co-driver

Team

Time

Mikko Hirvonen
(FIN)

Michel Périn (FRA)

303

X-raid
Team