Dakar Stage 12 ends with three MINI crews in the top ten

Dakar 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.

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


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