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Monster Energy X-raid: a strong team with unique drivers

• Categoria: Todo o terreno internacional

11th Dakar triumph for Stéphane Peterhansel

Best result of a Russian in the car category

 The Monster Energy X-raid Team may look back on an extremely successful 2013 Dakar Rally. The MINI ALL4 Racing ran perfectly throughout the event.

 First of all Stéphane Peterhansel: the Frenchman won ‘only’ two stages but while his rivals made mistakes, Peterhansel pursued his proven strategy: keep your cool, avoid making mistakes and push only where you can make perfect use of the advantages of your MINI ALL4 Racing. After all, this calmness and his huge experience resulted not only in 11 Dakar wins but also in the admiration of the other drivers

 The Russian pairing Leonid Novitskiy / Konstantin Zhiltsov also impressed with their consistency, in the 2013 Dakar. In 2012, Novitskiy caused a stir by finishing fourth and this year, he did even better. His stage results admittedly didn’t look that spectacular but in the end, his style of driving took him to the podium. Novitskiy’s third place is the best result ever secured by a Russian in the Dakar’s car category!

 Nani Roma also delivered in unique style: he sacrificed his third place in the overall rankings to safeguard Stéphane Peterhansel in the final stages. But apart from this fantastic team spirit, the 2013 Dakar represented a development step for Nani Roma in other areas, too. The Spaniard definitely has got the potential to win the Dakar but two hard days that cost him a lot of time made him drop back in the overall standings. Nonetheless, Roma opted for keeping his cool and trying to make up for the lost ground with a clever approach instead of taking risks that could have resulted in an early retirement.

 Orlando Terranova also may celebrate. He is the first South American who succeeded in securing a stage win in the Dakar. In addition, the Argentinean and his co-driver Paulo Fiúza seem to be a match made in heaven. With its BMW X3 CC, the Argentinean-Portuguese pairing impressed to the max and clinched the very fine fifth place.

 Meanwhile Stephan Schott once again proved to be the unlucky fellow of the Monster Energy X-raid Team, in the 2013 Dakar. Together with his navigator Holm Schmidt, he spent numerous additional hours in the desert. Following a fech-fech field, they needed the support of a race truck to have their clutch changed and a few days later, they collided with another vehicle. But the German displayed outstanding determination. He never gave up to always take his MINI ALL4 Racing to the finish and the bivouac!

 Nonetheless, the Monster Energy X-raid Team also encountered its day to forget, in this year’s Dakar Rally. On day three, Krzysztof Holowczyc and Filipe Palmeiro had an accident. A helicopter took Holowczyc to a hospital in Pisco and later, the Pole was flown to Lima. One day later, however, he was allowed to leave the hospital again and a few days later he took a plane home to his family.

 In the coming hours, the MINIs ALL4 Racing and the service vehicles will be loaded on a ship for the shipment back to Europe! Following this short break, the Monster Energy X-raid Team will keep on working flat out.

Overall After 14 Stages:

1st S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 38h 32m 39s

2nd G. De Villiers (RSA) / D. Von Zitzewitz (GER) Toyota – 39h 15m 01s

3rd L. Novitskiy (RUS) / K. Zhiltsov (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing – 40h 01m 01s  

4th N. Roma (ESP) / M. Périn (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 40h 09m 22s  

5th O. Terranova (ARG) / P. Fiúza (POR) BMW X3 CC – 40h 21m 49s

 ...  

12th B. Garafulic (CHI) / G. Picard (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 43h 18m 59s

 ...  

48th S. Schott (GER) / H. Schmidt (GER) MINI ALL4 Racing – 61h 08m 16s