Media Information
Rallye du Maroc 2018
9th October 2018
Rallye du Maroc 2018 – MINI wins 2018 FIA
Cross Country Rally World Cup
.
-
MINI John Cooper Works Rally driver Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski
secures the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup title at penultimate round. -
Przygonski and co-driver Colsoul complete Rallye du Maroc
2nd overall. -
X-raid MINI JCW Team drivers Cyril Depres and Carlos Sainz
each secure stage wins in MINI John Cooper Works Buggy cars.
Munich. Rallye du Maroc –
Round ten of the 2018 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup –
proved to be a very memorable race for Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski (POL)
and co-driver Tom Colsoul (BEL). Not only did the MINI John Cooper
Works Rally crew complete the race 2nd overall, but the
amount of race points they scored in Morroco means Przygonski’s lead
in the FIA World Cup title cannot be overtaken and he is the *winner
of the 2018 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup.
Taking the 2018 FIA World Cup title is another huge step for the
young driver from Poland, after finishing the 2017 edition of FIA
Cross Country Rally World Cup in second place. With this season’s
impressive win, it also means the Przygonski and Colsoul duo have
netted MINI and MINI Motorsport partner X-raid the FIA World Cup title
six times.
Rallye du Maroc didn’t hold any serious problems for the MINI Family
crew driving under the banner of ORLEN Team. The famed reliability and
performance of the MINI John Cooper Works Rally only required the
controlled driving of Przygonski and the clinical navigation direction
of Colsoul to stay on course for the title right up until the finish
line of Stage 5 in the area of Fez.
Also competing within Rallye du Maroc were two drivers of the newly
formed X-raid MINI JCW Team. Cyril Despres (FR) and Carlos Sainz (SP),
under the direction of MINI Motorsport partner X-raid, they were
putting the latest specification MINI John Cooper Works Buggy cars
through their paces in racing conditions as part of an ongoing
development programme leading up to a three-pronged MINI JCW Buggy
attempt on the 2019 Dakar – Stéphane Peterhansel (FR) being the third driver.
Although Despres and Sainz competed for the sole purpose of testing
their new MINI cars, both drivers had fun and were running at a very
fast pace throughout the five stages of the race. For their efforts,
both drivers netted a stage win each. Depres finished the race third
overall. Unfortunately, Sainz had a technical issue at one point
during Stage 2 and it was enough to add time to his end result – with
the race a close run affair, the additional time couldn’t be pulled back.
Jakub Przygonski:
“We are so happy at winning the title; the World Cup
is coming to Poland and Belgium. It has been a really good year for
us, not easy of course because we did almost 100 hours in the race car
this year, which really is a lot. We are really good and we have made
a lot of progress this year. We are so happy.
“Our MINI John Cooper Works Rally was really reliable and fast. From
the beginning here in Maroc, we were going really fast and pushing. It
was not so easy to be on the podium here in Maroc because the top guys
were all here and it was really like a super sprint compared to the Dakar.”
Cyril Despres:
“It was a good race to test the MINI John Cooper Works Buggy. We know
where we have to work and improve. We found a good pace and a good
feeling – the speed is very good.”
Carlos Sainz:
“The race was good; not easy and good to test the car and the crew.
We made a big mistake three days ago and, in that moment, it became
impossible to fight for the victory. The car is good, we made a lot of
test before and the race was perfect to realise that we are working in
the right direction”
Sven Quandt – CEO X-raid:
“First of all, I congratulate Kuba and Tom on winning the FIA World
Cup. Both have improved more and more over the year to achieve a great
result. I am curious how things will continue at Dakar, and can
imagine a surprise.
“With the MINI JCW Buggy, we have one year of development behind us
and we can see we have the speed to drive at the front. We are
especially satisfied with the performance of both cars and Cyril can
be satisfied with the result.”
*Subject to FIA ratification
Rallye du Maroc 2018: MINI race end results
Media Contact.
Head of BMW Group Design, Innovations Motorsports Communications
Benjamin Titz
Telephone: +49 (0)179 – 743 8088
Email: Benjamin.titz@bmw.de
MINI Motorsport Communications
Matthias Schepke
Telephone: +49 (0)151 – 601 90450
Email: matthias.schepke@bmw.de
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