Media Information
Qatar Cross Country Rally
19 April 2017
2017 Qatar Cross Country Rally – Round 4, FIA Cross Country
Rally World cup. MINI leads after Special Stage 2.
- Stage win for Jakub Kuba Przygonski (POL) and Tom Colsoul (BEL).
- Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) 2nd overall.
- Mohamed Abu Issa (QAT) and Xavier Panseri (FRA) in top five.
Munich. MINI leads the way after Special Stage 2 at the 2017
Qatar Cross Country Rally. A stage win for Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski
(POL) and Tom Colsoul (BEL) in the #214 car sees the pairing at the
top of the overall standings in their first race on the 2017 FIA
Cross Country World Championship calendar. Fellow MINI competitors
Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) in the MINI John
Cooper Works Rally are in second position, just 1:25.00 behind the
leaders, with the third crew of Mohamed Abu Issa (QAT) and co-driver
Xavier Panseri (FRA) in the second MINI ALL4 Racing also sitting
inside the top five.
The MINI contenders dominated proceedings at the desert event with
Abu Issa remaining in third position, behind Przygonski and Al Rajhi,
for the majority of the day’s racing at his home event. However, a
puncture later on in the stage saw the #206 car drop back to fifth
position at the finish line.
Przygonski: “Today was the first real and long stage
and it was really, really good for us. Tom and I knew we could win the
stage. The navigation was difficult and we had some dunes towards the
end, but we passed some other cars and it was some really nice racing.
I am very happy. Tomorrow will be difficult because we have to open
the stage. We need to stay focussed.”
Al Rajhi: “It was a good start, despite a few
problems. We had one small mistake with the navigation, but second
place is good for me and we have a good starting position for tomorrow.”
Abu Issa: “In yesterday’s super special stage, I
really tried to push. The navigation of today’s stage was quite tough,
but we did well. Our pace was quite good. For 70% of the stage we were
3rd overall but then I had a puncture and this costs us
three minutes.”
The rally concludes on Saturday 22 April.
Qatar Cross Country Rally: MINI overall positions after SS2