Orlando Terranova and Andreas Schulz finished sixth overall in one of the three new Mini JCW Rally cars entered in the 2017 Dakar. The rally finished in Buenos Aires on the morning of Saturday, January 14.
Two additional Minis, both the older All4 Racing models, finished in the top ten; Jakub Przygonski and Tom Colsoul finished seventh while Mohammed Abu-Issa and Xavier Panseri finished tenth. It was just the second Dakar in a car for Przygonski and the first in a car for Abu-Issa, who had run the event three times on a quad.
Stephane Peterhansel and Jean Paul Cottret took the overall win, leading a Peugeot podium sweep. Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena were second, while Cyril Despres and David Castera were third.
Minis’ Mikko Hirvonen and Michel Périn, who had run as high as third in a Mini JCW Rally, finished thirteenth after a difficult second half of the rally that included a three-hour delay on stage ten, when they had navigation problems and were involved in a collision with a truck.
This year’s Dakar was affected significantly by rain, mud, and extreme heat. Rain led to cancellation of both the sixth stage, scheduled for Saturday, January 7. The ninth stage, scheduled for January 11, was canceled because of a massive rockslide resulting from continuing rain.
X-Raid Mini team principal Sven Quandt said “It was a grueling Dakar – and this does not only apply to the sport. This year, the conditions were extremely difficult for everybody. The heat in the early stages with temperatures of more than 40° C, then the Bolivian heights with an altitude of up to 4000 meters above sea level – and in addition, all the rain and the cold. This was physically and mentally extremely demanding. Nonetheless, our mechanics did a fantastic job and displayed a lot of staying power. If you are lying below a car in the rain, with mud everywhere and the water running down your collar… that’s anything but funny. Our Mini racers once again demonstrated their reliability this year. But unfortunately, the regulation factors with their impact we can’t change prevented us from securing better results. For instance, the diesel powered all-wheel driven cars are clearly penalized by the regulations. All the fast, bumpy sections we had to contest this year were extremely demanding for our Mini and we had no chance against the buggies. Therefore, we will focus even more on the two-wheel drive, in the future.”—Brian S. Morgan
