It’s now official, Stephane Peterhansel has won the 2012 Dakar rally for the X-raid team driving a MINI All4. He enjoyed a comfortable 42 minute margin over his X-raid temmate Nani Roma. It’s the tenth win for the 46-year-old Frenchman who won his first Dakar way back in 1991 in the motorcycle class on a Yamaha YZE750T.
He won five more Dakars with Yamaha over the next seven years. The first of what is now four wins in the car class was in 2004 at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Pajero. He enjoyed two more wins with Mitsubishi in 2005 and 2007.
Despite Peterhansel’s impressive run of success the victory was the first for the X-raid team and the first for MINI.
Speaking after the event Peteransel said, “When you think of how hard it is to win a Dakar, it’s incredible that I’ve been able to win ten of them. It’s been a long time, I’ve been waiting for five years to win again.
“To take the victory in South America is a huge relief, it ranks among my best triumphs. Winning the rally for Team X-raid makes it even more special, since Sven Quandt has been waiting for years for this to happen. I don’t know what I could do to go one better. Beating this record is going to be difficult … for the others!”
It was the X-raid team’s tenth attempt and team manager Sven Quandt was also very happy to taste success.
“To win the toughest rally in the world is something really special. It is the win that we have been chasing for so long. Congratulations to Stéphane on his tenth Dakar victory. He once again showed what an outstanding driver he is. Of course we would also like to congratulate his co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret,” said Quandt.
MINI can also be happy that all five of the X-raid MINI All4 entries finished the event. “I would like to say thank you very much to all the driver crews and the whole X-raid team for their superb efforts. They have made the first Dakar victory in the histrory of the X-raid team come true,” Quandt added.
[Source: MINI motorsport | Pic: X-raid]
2 replies on “Peterhansel wins 2012 Dakar with MINI”
“Mini’s are for girls!”
I’m a VW fan – 3 in a row thank you very much. WRC next year will be a riot!
BMW failed miserably with the X3 trying to de-throne VW.
This year a carbon fibre mini shell on the “prototype” X3 under pinnings and more Mini’s meant the odds were good to win.
At least the VW ran an engine type available in a Touareg unlike the 3.0 V6 in the X3, I mean Mini…
With Nasser without a drive for 2012 he rolled up in a Hummer with Robby Gordon so naturally I backed the Hummers for this year.
The racing was awesome! So close and it was anyones! Nasser struggled with reliability but was still competitive and fast! I was very disappointed to see him pull out completely from the race and leave Robby to fight the Mini’s alone carrying all the spares. Not very sportsman like IMO.
So with Nasser gone Robby gained my support. Fantastic driving and I couldn’t wait to watch the highlights.
When the “red neck supercharging” claim was made and Peterhansel cried “cheater” I couldn’t believe my eyes!
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQoIJdRYVLkWwUmkj9uD8QzqDuw6NjykeAVQpKn2nIdWc908cmw
The decision to expel Robby for “approved” and “passed” equipment while Peterhansel runs a rider down and gets nothing pee’d me right off. Did anyone see the truck that ran into the car in the dunes? They were penalised!
Double standards! It’s racing (or cricket) and decisions don’t always work in everyones favour.
“They can kiss my ass!” was brilliant talk from Gordon! I was fired up and so was he! It brought me some of the best racing I have seen, but it did bite Robby in his own ass… 30 mins up over the field and he rolled it…
At least he won the last stage!
Yeah, there was certainly some bite between competitors this year!