Media Information
Dakar Rally 2019
14 January 2019
Dakar Rally 2019
–
Stage 07, San Juan de Marcona – San Juan de Marcona
- MINI crews make it a one-two-three at end of Stage 7.
-
Stéphane Peterhansel takes his second stage win in a MINI
John Cooper Works Buggy. - Joan ‘Nani’ Roma places MINI John Cooper Works Rally in second.
- Carlos Sainz takes third place in Stage 7.
Munich. MINI crews at Dakar 2019 achieved a stunning victory
in today’s Stage 7 by taking all three top spots after a close race
that ended with just 9min 28sec separating the winner and third place.
Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) and co-driver David Castera (FRA) in a
MINI John Cooper Works Buggy grabbed the lead early in the race and
held their nerve and position until the finish point. This is the
second stage win for the French duo and, with today’s win, places them
second in the overall ranking, just 29min 16sec off the leading car.
Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (ESP) and co-driver Alex Haro (ESP) in their MINI
John Cooper Works Rally was the only real threat to Peterhansel from
the start and throughout the race. Roma even managed to take the
leading spot at Waypoint 3 but eventually took second place just 4min
33sec behind Peterhansel.
Third MINI crew home and third in stage was that of Carlos Sainz
(ESP) and co-driver Lucas Cruz (ESP) in a MINI John Cooper Works
Buggy. With this result Sainz has managed to pull back time on his
rivals and re-entered the leading top ten in tenth position.
Cyril Despres (FRA) and co-driver Jean Paul Cottret (FRA) completed
Stage 7 in fifth. Of the four MINI crews in the top five at stage end,
theirs was the third MINI John Cooper Works Buggy at Dakar 2019 to
finish amongst those top five.
Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski (POL) and co-driver Tom Colsoul (BEL)
maintained their usual consistent pace to cross the stage finish point
in seventh place. Fellow MINI John Cooper Works Rally crew Yazeed
Al-Rajhi (KSA) / Timo Gottschalk (GER) arrived at stage end in
13th. They were followed home by Boris Garafulic (CHI) and
co-driver Filipe Palmeiro (POR) in 14th.
Stéphane Peterhansel
“Not a perfect stage, again. We did a big jump at the beginning in
the dunes. It was a big one and we landed at the front on the bonnet
and I saw some stars in my eyes after this big impact. After this I
started to concentrate and overtook Nani. It was a good result but
still not a perfect day.”
Nani Roma
“Tough, tough stage. In the beginning there was a lot fesh-fesh from
the same lines as the day before. It was not an easy decision to make
on the pressures of the tyres because you have a lot of rocks in the
first 150 km and a lot of sand in 100km. But we are here and happy. I
had plan in my mind that we try to continue without mistake; at the
moment that plan is working.”
Carlos Sainz
“Quite a difficult day. We stopped at the beginning straight away to
wait for Stephane for a few minutes. We more or less, except for a
couple of punctures, nearly had a good day.”
Cyril Despres
“For sure it was demanding today between the sand dunes and sand
valleys. The car is reacting very well to the different situations. We
were doing ok until the tyre came off the rim going downhill – it is
not easy to change the wheel in such soft conditions. We had to finish
the last 40 km in a sandstorm and this broke my rhythm towards the end.”
Jakub Przygonski
“We started further back with a lot trucks in front and this is not
so good for us when they destroy the tracks. On the dunes it was
really soft sand so we had to stop to deflate the tyres for more
traction. This was a good decision because from then we didn’t have to
stop and we pushed hard to the end.”
Next race is Stage 8, San Juan de Marcona – Pisco. For more
information about Dakar 2019, please visit the host’s event home page
here.
Dakar Rally 2019
: MINI standings after Stage 7
Pos
Driver
Co-driver
#
MINI
Team
Time
2nd
Stéphane
Peterhansel
(FRA)
David Castera
(FRA)
304
MINI John Cooper Works Buggy
X-raid MINI John Cooper Works
Team
025:42:46
+00:29:16
3rd
Joan
Roma
(ESP)
Alex
Haro
(ESP)
307
MINI
John Cooper Works Rally
X-raid MINI John Cooper Works Rally
Team
023:51:29
+00:37:59
5th
Cyril
Despres
(FRA)
Jean Paul Cottret
(FRA)
308
MINI John Cooper Works Buggy
X-raid MINI John Cooper Works
Team
026:33:31
+01:20:01
6th
Jakub
Przygonski
(POL)
Tom Colsoul
(BEL)
303
MINI John Cooper Works Rally
Orlen X-raid Team
027:25:32
+02:12:02
8th
Yazeed
Al-Rajhi
(KSA)
Timo Gottschalk
(GER)
314
MINI John Cooper Works Rally
X-raid MINI John Cooper Works Rally
Team
028:53:03
+03:39:33
10th
Carlos
Sainz
(ESP)
Lucas
Cruz
(ESP)
300
MINI
John Cooper Works Buggy
X-raid MINI John Cooper Works Team
030:29:01
+05:15:31
15th
Boris
Garafulic
(CHI)
Filipe Palmeiro
(POR)
321
MINI John Cooper Works Rally
X-raid MINI John Cooper Works Rally
Team
035:03:43
+09:50:13