The celebrations among the Bahrain JCW X-raid Team know no bounds: Having negotiated their way 7,500 kilometres through Saudi Arabia, Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz (both ESP) have won the Dakar 2020 in the MINI John Cooper Works Buggy. Stéphane Peterhansel finished third to ensure the team is represented with two crews on the podium.
This has been one of the most successful Dakars for X-raid: Nine of the twelve stages were won by cars built by X-raid. Eight of those stage wins went the way of the Bahrain JCW X-raid Team. Today’s overall victory is the fifth Dakar success in the history of the team. Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret were victorious in 2012 and 2013. One year later, Nani Roma and Michel Périn took victory, before Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel won in 2015. All of the aforementioned crews were triumphant in a MINI ALL4 Racing.
Excitement right down to the final kilometre
Sainz came into the final stage as the overall leader and successfully defended his lead on the final 374 kilometres of the Dakar 2020. “I am just incredibly happy,” beamed the Spaniard at the finish. “Behind this victory lies so much effort, training, working with the team and much more. I am happy for the team, Red Bull, Bahrain and Primax. We have been attacking top three fully since day one, it was a full-throttle rally from the very beginning. The first edition of the Dakar in Saudi Arabia was sensational.
The battle for second place was particularly close: Peterhansel and his rival Nasser Al-Attiyah in the Toyota were separated by just six seconds after the penultimate stage. Unfortunately, Peterhansel was unable to catch the Qatari driver, but he did take a very fine third place overall. “It was a strange Dakar for me because we had to change the co-driver at the last moment,” said the Frenchman. “But I am happy about the result. I would not have expected this at the beginning.”
Seven MINI in the top 20
As well as the two MINI JCW Buggies, two MINI John Cooper Works Rally crews also finished in the top ten. Orlando “Orly” Terranova and Bernardo “Ronnie” Graue (both ARG) ended the Dakar in seventh place. Terranova was unable to push hard in the second week. He had complained of neck problems since stage six and was forced to take a more cautious approach. Saudi Yasir Seaidan can be pleased with his ninth place on home soil. Together with his Russian co-driver Alexey Kuzmich, he was making his first appearance at the Dakar in a MINI JCW Rally.
The MINI ALL4 Racing crew of Alexander Dorosinskiy (RUS) and Oleg Uperenko (LVA) ended the Dakar in 14th. Denis Krotov (RUS) and Dmytro Tsyro (UKR) from the MSK Motorsport team finished 17th in a MINI JCW Rally.
Having been unfortunate in week one, Jakub “Kuba” Przygonski (POL) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) came back strongly after the rest day and claimed several top-five results. In doing so, they climbed back up to 19th place in the overall standings. This evening, the crews can celebrate their success with the team at the finish podium. The top 20 will be presented to the fans in Qiddiya at 19:30 local time.
Sven Quandt, Team Manager X-raid Team
“We are absolutely overwhelmed by this great team result. First and third place we didn’t expect. It was a fantastic race, which was marked by many battles for the top. Carlos and Stephane did an outstanding job. The performance of our MINI JCW fleet was absolutely fantastic. After so many years of fighting, we are happy to have finally won the Dakar again with our MINI cars. To finish with four MINI in the top ten and eight in the top 20 shows our reliability.
Thanks to our employees and to everyone who believed in us and supported us – especially MINI and our partners Bahrain, Red Bull and Primax.”
Dakar Rally – Overall result after SS12*
1. C. Sainz (ESP) / L. Cruz (ESP) MINI JCW Buggy – 42h 59m 17s
2. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (FRA) Toyota – 43h 05m 58s
3. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / P. Fiuza (POR) MINI JCW Buggy – 43h 09m 15s
4. Y. Al-Rajhi (KSA) / K. Zhiltsov (RUS) Toyota – 43h 48m 27s
5. G. De Villiers (ZAF) / A. Haro (ESP) Toyota – 44h 06m 26s
6. O. Terranova (ARG) / B. Graue (ARG) MINI JCW Rally – 44h 11m 32s
…
9. Y. Seaidan (KSA) / A. Kuzmich (RUS) MINI JCW Rally – 46h 41m 34s
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14. A. Dorosinskiy (RUS) / O. Uperenko (LVA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 48h 06m 23s
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17. D. Krotov (RUS) / D. Tsyro (UKR) MINI JCW Rally – 50h 37m 18s
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19. J. Przygonski (POL) / T. Gottschalk (GER) MINI JCW Rally – 51h 34m 35s
Dakar Rally – Result SS12*
1. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (FRA) Toyota – 1h 17m 30s
2. Y. Seaidan (KSA) / A. Kuzmich (RUS) MINI JCW Rally – 1h 19m 02s
3. O. Terranova (ARG) / B. Graue (ARG) MINI JCW Rally – 1h 20m 46s
4. F. Alonso (ESP) / M. Coma (ESP) Toyota – 1h 20m 55s
5. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / P. Fiuza (POR) MINI JCW Buggy – 1h 21m 01s
6. C. Sainz (ESP) / L. Cruz (ESP) MINI JCW Buggy – 1h 21m 26s
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14. J. Przygonski (POL) / T. Gottschalk (GER) MINI JCW Rally – 1h 25m 23s
15. A. Dorosinskiy (RUS) / O. Uperenko (LVA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 1h 26m 12s
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20. D. Krotov (RUS) / D. Tsyro (UKR) MINI JCW Rally – 1h 28m 41s
