Nani Roma and his co-driver, Michel Périn, won the 2014 Dakar Rally in an X-raid Mini All4Racing. Their teammates, Stephane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret, were second, while Nasser Al-Attiyah and Lucas Cruz finished third in another X-raid Mini.
It was the third straight win for Sven Quandt’s X-raid team. Peterhansel and Cottret had won in 2012 and 2013, and they might well have won again this year, but team orders intervened. Peterhansel had been narrowing the gap to Roma late in the rally, but after the tenth day of the thirteen-day event, Quandt, concerned with the pace of the two front-running Minis as they raced each other, ordered them to back off.
The move appeared to secure the win for Roma, but Peterhansel regained the lead on stage twelve when Roma had a puncture. With a 26-second lead late on Saturday’s final stage, Peterhansel slowed to enable himself, Roma and Al-Attiyah to cross the finish line in Valparaiso, Chile, in formation.
Toyota’s Giniel de Villiers, who won the final stage, finished fourth in the overall standings ahead of yet another X-raid car, the Mini of Orlando Terranova and Paulo Fiuza. For more information on the Dakar, including stories, photos, videos, and results for the bikes quads, and trucks that ran along with the cars go to the Dakar website. —Brian S. Morgan
