Finnish rally driver Mikko Hirvonen and his co-driver, Michel Périn, drove an X-raid Mini All4 Racing to fifth in the rain-shortened second stage of the 2016 Dakar Rally, which runs in Argentina and Bolivia.
Both Mini and the Dakar itself have gotten off to a rough start. Four spectators were injured on the rally’s prologue stage in in Buenos Aires on Saturday, and the first full stage of the event on Sunday was canceled because of heavy rain and flooding on parts of the route. Hirvonen, who has come out of retirement to run his first-ever Dakar, scored the best finish among the four X-raid Minis and the eight Minis entered by privateers . One other Mini finished in the top ten; last year’s winner Nasser al-Attiyah and his co-driver Mathieu Baumel were eighth.
The stage, run between Villa Carlos Paz and Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina, was shortened from the planned 317 miles to 240 miles because of continuing rain. Even the overall leader, renowned rally champion Sebastien Loeb, spent time stuck in the mud. Loeb, like Hirvonen, is running his first Dakar. He is piloting a Peugeot along with co-driver Daniel Elena. His Peugeot teammate Stephane Peterhansel and his co-driver J.P Cottret were second on the stage.
The rally takes to the mountains on Tuesday for a run from Termas de Rio Hondo to Jujuy, This year’s Dakar is being run in Argentina and Bolivia. It finishes on January 16 in Rosario, Argentina. Information on the rally route and daily updates appear on the official event site. NBC Sports Network is providing daily 30-minute updates on the event; most are scheduled for 5:30PM eastern time.—Brian S. Morgan
