2017 Rally Kazakhstan – Round 5, FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup.

Media Information

2017 Rally Kazakhstan

18 May 2017

2017 Rally Kazakhstan – Round 5, FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup .

• Three international crews from the MINI Family to compete at 2017 Rally Kazakhstan – its inaugural round as part of the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup.
• Mohamed Abu Issa and co-driver Xavier Panseri look to further their third place standing in the 2017 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup.
• Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk take to the Kazakhstan’s desert and steppe regions in a MINI John Cooper Works Rally.
• Jakub Przygonski and Tom Colsoul in buoyant mood after second-place result at Qatar Cross Country Rally (Round 4).

Munich. For the first time, Rally Kazakhstan is an official round of the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup – and MINI with motorsport partner X-raid is going all out for a result in the 2017 edition. The 2500 km race distance takes place on the Western side of this former Soviet Union territory, amongst the dunes and steppe regions east of the Caspian Sea. Three MINI crews are confirmed for this maiden race.

Following the required technical scrutineering (20^th May) of all competing vehicles and competitor safety equipment, the start of Rally Kazakhstan begins Sunday 21 May with Stage 1, a stage of 337.6 km, of which 268.2 km are the special timed stage. There then follows five further stages over five days, the final stage and race end completes on Friday 26^th May, when the competitors fight the last kilometres back to the starting point of Aktau City.

Mohamed Abu Issa (QAT) and co-driver Xavier Panseri (FRA) presently lie in third place in the overall standings of the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup. As was expected, this latest rally-raid partnership is becoming a formidable package at the controls of a MINI race car and under the direction of the vastly experienced X-raid team.

Taking up the challenge of a new arena on relatively unknown ground is the rapid duo of Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) taking charge of an all-new MINI John Cooper Works Rally (#202). No stranger to desert conditions, Al-Rahji will no doubt be on the pace in the sand and dunes sections that form a serious part of this new international cross-country rally.

If recent success – second position on the rostrum at Round 4, Qatar Cross Country Rally – is anything to go by, then the eyes of cross-country supporters should keep a sharp look out for former Dakar motorcyclist and Drift champion Jakub Przygonski (POL). Once again the experienced Tom Colsoul (BEL) is in the Orlen Team (#206) co-driver seat to guide the Polish driver through the race stages.

2017 Rally Kazakhstan: MINI line-up