Nasser Al-Attiyah wins ahead of Orlando Terranova, Erik van Loon and Vladimir VasilyevSuccessful dress rehearsal for the 2015 Dakar Rally.
Quadruple win for MINI at Rally Morocco // Nasser Al-Attiyah wins ahead of Orlando Terranova, Erik van Loon and Vladimir Vasilyev // Successful dress rehearsal for the 2015 Dakar Rally.Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (QT/FR) in their MINI ALL4 Racing car have won the prestigious Rally Morocco, the ninth round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. The X-raid drivers have shown a dominant performance over six legs, on which the participants covered a total of 1991 kilometres. 1441 of them in special stages. Al-Attiyah/Baumel won three stages and crossed the finish line in the capital of Marrakesh ahead of Monster Energy X-raid driver Orlando Terranova/Rolando Graue (AR/AR).“It’s a great feeling to win here in Morocco,” Al-Attiyah said at the finish in the capital of Marrakesh. “It was a tough challenge, a lot of difficult sandy parts in the desert, where you could get stuck easily. Some sections were a lot trickier than I expected. But my co-driver Mathieu did a great job as always, he’s a great navigator, who always finds the best route. The MINI ALL4 Racing was again very reliable and nice to drive. I love it and I’m now looking forward to the next big challenge, the 2015 Dakar Rally.”
The Rally Morocco, which was held for the 25th time this year, is regarded as a perfect dress rehearsal for the Dakar Rally, which will be held in South America in January. Not only from a driver’s but also from a technical point of view. The route’s of both events are quite similar: Huge sandy dunes with very fine sand and sections on narrow mountain roads.
“I learned a lot during this week, it was definitely a good preparation for the Dakar Rally,” Orlando Terranova said. “I had a good battle with Nasser and it’s a great result for MINI. It shows that we are on a good way for the Dakar.”
Erik van Loon/Wouter Rosegaar (NL/NL) finished the Rally Morocco in 3rd place, scoring their best result of the season so far. Vladimir Vasilyev/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RU/RU) crossed the finish line in 4th position, defending their lead in the World Cup classification. The next and final round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies will be the Baja Portugal (30 October – 02 November).2014 Rally Morocco: Provisional Final Result (Top 5).1. Al-Attiyah/Baumel (QT/FR), MINI ALL4 Racing – 16h 12m 15s2. Terranova/Graue (AR/AR), MINI ALL4 Racing – 16h 13m 57s3. Van Loon/Rosegaar (NL/NL), MINI ALL4 Racing – 16h 54m 02s4. Vasilyev/Zhiltsov (RU/RU), MINI ALL4 Racing – 17h 00m 08s5. Ten-Brinke/Colsoul (NL/BE), Toyota - 17h 21m 36s
FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies: Classifications (Top 3).01 Vladimir Vasilyev (RU) 216 pts.02 Nasser Al-Attiyah (QT) 19603 Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SA) 120
2014 Rally Morocco MINI driver line-up.
#300 MINI ALL4 Racing.X-raid TeamVladimir Vasilyev/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RU/RU)
#301 MINI ALL4 Racing.X-raid TeamNasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (QT/FR)#304 MINI ALL4 Racing.X-raid TeamMartin Kaczmarski/Tapio Suominen (PL/FI)#305 MINI ALL4 Racing.X-raid TeamErik van Loon/Wouter Rosegaar (NL/NL)#306 MINI ALL4 Racing.Monster Energy X-raid TeamOrlando Terranova/Rolando Graue (AR/AR)
#307 MINI ALL4 Racing.Monster Energy X-raid TeamJoan "Nani" Roma/Michel Perin (ES/FR)
#316 MINI ALL4 Racing.X-raid TeamAidyn Rakhimbayev/Anton Nikolaev (KZ/RU)
#318 MINI ALL4 Racing.X-raid TeamBoris Garafulic/Filipe Palmeiro (CL/PT)
#328 MINI ALL4 Racing.X-raid TeamPeter van Merksteijn/Eddy Chevaillier (NL/BE)
Race calendar: FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.14/02 – 16/02 Baja Russia13/03 – 16/03 Baja Italy06/04 – 10/04 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge20/04 – 25/04 Sealine Cross-Country Rally Qatar18/05 – 25/05 Pharaons Rally Egypt18/07 – 20/07 Baja Aragón14/08 – 16/08 Baja Hungary28/08 – 30/08 Baja Poland03/10 – 09/10 Rally Morocco30/10 – 02/11 Baja Portugal
