2017 Dakar Rally – Stage 4: San Salvador de Jujuy – Answer Your Car Auto Questions Here

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2017 Dakar Rally

05 January 2017

2017 Dakar Rally – Stage 4:
San Salvador de Jujuy – Tupiza, 521 km

Hirvonen climbs to 3rd overall after 2nd place finish in today’s stage
Przygonski 7^th overall ahead of Terranova in 8th
Best ever stage performance for Garafulic; now 9^th overall

Munich. Stage 4 of the 2017 Dakar proved eventful today, but
it was successful for many of the MINI competitors, with six
pairings continuing to improve on their overall position in the
standings despite the challenges of this tough stage. A difficult
start to the 521km stage for X-raid Team’s Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) and
Michel Périn (FRA) in the #303 MINI John Cooper Works Rally car was
not indicative of the stage as a whole. Having dropped to
10^th place at the first checkpoint, the Finnish driver
quickly regained pace with strong navigation support from his French
co-driver. The reward was 2nd place at the finish line in Tupiza to
move them up to 3d overall.

Hirvonen said: “It was a good day but also very difficult; difficult
navigation and then we had sand dunes at 4,000 metres and they were
really high, even higher than ones I saw recently in Abu Dhabi. It was
really difficult to get to the top, but then we always found the
traction and managed somehow to tackle them and Michel did a good job.
We fought all the way through and did all we could with no mistakes so
all good and it went well.”

Jakub Przygonski (POL) and Tom Colsoul (BEL) in the MINI ALL4 Racing
#316 also enjoyed a strong performance in today’s stage, which began
with a good early attack that saw them reach waypoint 2 in fifth
position. However, it was difficult for the pair to maintain their
advantage and they slipped back slightly to 7th place, but the result
was still good enough to move them further up the overall standings
where they now sit in 6th. At 00:36:35 behind the fifth placed car
though, the MINI pair still has a challenge ahead to achieve a top
five Dakar result.

Przygonski: “It was a good stage for us but the beginning with the
high altitude on the sand dunes at 4,000 metres was really hard. I
worked with Tom well to find the easiest places to pass and we did
well; Tom’s navigation was really perfect and we enjoyed this stage.”

One of the real stars of today was Boris Garafulic (ARG), who
recorded his best ever stage finish in seven Dakars with the support
of co-driver Filipe Palmeiro (POR). An amazing start saw the pair pass
waypoint 2 in a surprise third place before slipping back gradually
throughout the stage to secure a 9th place finish today. The
performance has boosted Garafulic’s overall position in the standings
to 9^th – eight places higher than at the end of yesterday’s stage!

Garafulic: “We had a good day. There were dunes I had never seen
before, even though I am from Chile, but these were really high and
also soft. I think for anyone who didn’t have major experience with
dunes, today was a hard day but we did ok.”

Following today’s attack, Garafulic is now just over 30 minutes
behind the #308 MINI John Cooper Works Rally of Orlando Terranova
(ARG) and co-driver Andreas Schulz (GER) who maintained 8^th
position on the leader board today after a 10^th place stage finish.

Terranova: “It was a difficult stage for us, we made a navigation
mistake and we couldn’t take the waypoint at the beginning. The dunes
were very difficult and the temperature was high again. I started to
feel a little sick in the high altitude but we continued.”

The steep learning curve continued for Mohamed Abu Issa (QAT) on his
debut Dakar in a car with the help of co-driver Xavier Panseri (FRA)in
the #322 MINI ALL4 Racing. The pair climbed four places overall to
12^th place today, after crossing the finish line for the
stage in the same position.

Abu Issa: “Today we were expecting some soft sand, of course, but not
all the way through and there were also some rocks in the beginning,
but honestly the car was amazing. We had a really good day. Altitude
was good and the help from the doctors worked, so I think it was my
best stage today.”

Sylvio deBarros (BR) and Rafael Capoani (BR) now sit just outside the
top ten, having moved from 18^th overall to 11^th
thanks to today’s 15^th place finish.

Just behind the pair were Stephan Schott (GER) and Paulo Fiuza (POR)
in 16^th who now move to 14^th place overall.

Unfortunately, X-raid Team’s Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) was forced to
withdraw today after severe altitude sickness made it impossible for
him and co-driver Timo Gottschalk (GER) to continue in the #306 MINI
John Cooper Works Rally car. “I already felt bad prior to the start
but it goes without saying that we started into the special stage,
nevertheless,” Al-Rajhi revealed in the bivouac. “But with 190
kilometres covered we stopped and I had a rest for a while.
Nonetheless, the headache got worse and worse and so I opted for
retiring from the special stage. But now I already am feeling far
better again.” The pairing completed yesterday’s stage, ending in San
Salvador de Jujuy, in sixth place overall and showed great promise for
a strong result in what is, arguably, the world’s most challenging
endurance race.

Tomorrow’s (06-01-2017) Stage 5 starts in Tupiza and completes in
Oruro, a total distance of 692 km.

2017 Dakar Rally: MINI Family standings overall after Stage 4.

Position

Driver

Co-driver

Team

Time

Mikko Hirvonen
(FIN)

Michel Périn (FRA)

303

X-raid
Team