Media Information
Dakar Rally 2018
19 January 2018
Dakar Rally 2018
–
Stage 12, Chilecito – San Juan
- Stage 12 ends with three MINI crews in the top ten.
- Orlando Terranova / Bernardo Graue finish sixth in stage.
- MINI crew Przygonski / Colsoul maintain sixth place overall.
Munich. Dakar 2018 is drawing to a close. Following the action
of Stage 12, there now remains just two more stages before the Dakar
finish line in
Córdoba, Argentina.
Stage 12 started perfectly for the four crews of the MINI
Family as they made the most of stony tracks that weaved in and out
of canyons and across many small rivers.
Orlando Terranova (ARG) and Bernardo Graue (ARG) quickly settled into
the stage and pushed hard to take the lead and held it until near CP2,
when a puncture required attention. Despite losing time, the pair
continued pushing the now front runners. It was a happy crew of the
MINI John Cooper Works Rally (#307) that eventually finished the stage
in fourth place, just under six minutes off the finish time of the
first placed car.
Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) and co-driver Andreas Schulz (GER) in the MINI
John Cooper Works Buggy (#305) also put their mark on Stage 12 by
quickly settling into sixth place for the greater part of the stage.
Despite tiredness from having only a few hours’ sleep, the pair
continued at a good pace to hold this position right to the finish of
the stage.
The third crew of the MINI Family to take a top ten slot in Stage 12
was that of Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski (POL) and co-driver Tom Colsoul
(BEL) in their MINI John Cooper Works Rally (#312). Their daily race
ended with eighth place, just over two minutes behind their fellow
MINI crew of Hirvonen / Schulz. This result saw Przygonski maintain
his sixth place in the overall race classification.
Boris Garafulic (CHI) and co-driver Filipe Palmeiro (POR) in a MINI
John Cooper Works Rally (#317) completed Stage 12 in 13th.
This result meant the pair moved up two more positions in the overall
classification to 16th.
MINI Family reports: Stage 12
Orlando Terranova
“It was a good day. We tried to push for the whole race. We felt a
good pace in the first section but towards the end of it, about 40km,
one tyre had a small puncture and I made a mistake – I decided to stop
and fill it up. But then after 10km we had to stop again for the same
tyre and we lost maybe five minutes. This was a good day for the team.
It was the first day we felt we could push beyond the pace of the
leaders and it felt good.”
Mikko Hirvonen
“We had a pretty good day considering we rolled yesterday and had a
really long day – I only slept for two hours and now we’ve just had
the longest special stage of the race! We did pretty well and it
wasn’t easy with the navigation either. Even though we were behind
another car for 130km and lost a little time, I’m happy. The car was
running perfectly. In some areas it was fantastic and I really enjoyed it.”
Jakub Przygonski
“Stage 12 was a really long special stage, 500km or so. There was a
lot of rivers and hard navigation. The early parts were like a WRC
stage, which was nice. We were really pushing, going sideways and
enjoying the time. But then, at one place, we made a really big
mistake; we couldn’t turn and we jumped downwards from the rock. We
landed in a good place, without any stones between some rocks below.
It was a risky moment for us. We were on the limit. But we are here!”
Next race is Stage 13, San Juan – Córdoba. For more information about
Dakar 2018, please visit the host’s event home page here.
Dakar Rally 2018
: MINI standings after Stage 12
Pos
Driver
Co-driver
#
MINI
Team
Time
6
Jakub Przygonski
(POL)
Tom Colsoul
(BEL)
312
MINI John Cooper Works
Rally
Orlen X-raid Team
045:15:33
+02:51:02
16
Boris
Garafulic
(CHI)
Filipe Palmeiro
(POR)
317
MINI John Cooper Works Rally
MINI JCW Rally Team
055:08:49
+12:44:18
20
Mikko Hirvonen
(FIN)
Andreas Schulz
(GER)
305
MINI John Cooper Works
Buggy
MINI JCW Buggy
Team
058:40:24
+16:15:53
21
Orlando
Terranova
(ARG)
Bernardo Graue
(ARG)
307
MINI John Cooper Works Rally
MINI JCW Rally Team
060:44:27
+18:19:56