Peterhansel wins penultimate stage at the 2014 Dakar Rally and takes the lead in the overall classification.

Press Release.

17th January 2014.

Peterhansel wins penultimate stage at the 2014 Dakar Rally and takes the lead in the overall classification.

Munich (DE). Stéphane Peterhansel (FR) in his black MINI ALL4 Racing has won the 13th and penultimate stage of the 2014 Dakar Rally. The Monster Energy X-raid Team driver finished the day 3:38 minutes ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah (QT) in the predominantly white MINI ALL4 Racing, Joan "Nani" Roma (ES) in the yellow MINI ALL4 Racing, which is based on the MINI John Cooper Works Countryman, was in 3rd place.

Today's 350k-long stage led from El Salvador in the mountains to La Serena at the Pacific coast. The first part of the stage was held on gravel roads, later the drivers entered the dunes of the famous Atacama desert again, which they already knew from previous stages.

"A good day for me and my co-driver," Peterhansel said after the stage. "The conditions were tough again, the Atacama is never easy to drive, there are so many traps you can step into. The sand is extremely fine and you can get stuck with your car quickly. But as always our MINI ALL4 Racing showed a great performance. It was quick and also really reliable."

Stéphane Peterhansel is now also leading the overall classification. With one stage to go on Saturday, the Frenchman is leading teammate "Nani" Roma by a small margin of only 26 seconds. Tomorrow's stage will lead from La Serena to the finish line in Valparaíso, where the 2014 Dakar Rally will finish after13 days and 9,374 kilometres.

Dakar Rally Day 13 Quick Facts.

Date: 18th January, 2014

Start/finish: La Serena/Valparaíso (both CL) – Leg 13

Official starting time (cars): 11:19 AM ART (UTC -3)

Total distance: 535 km, Special stage: 157 km, Liaison: 378 km

MINI at the 2014 Dakar Rally.

A total of eleven MINI ALL4 Racing compete in the 2014 Dakar. All are based on the MINI John Cooper Works Countryman, modified by the factory-supported X-raid Team to meet the high demands of the Dakar Rally which is today’s pinnacle of off-road motorsports. With a combination of power, reliability and efficiency the MINI ALL4 Racing proved its competiveness right from its first Dakar start in 2011 while also winning the hearts of the fans from the word go.

On only its second Dakar appearance, the MINI ALL4 Racing made the big breakthrough by winning the 2012 Dakar Rally. In 2013 the MINI brand proved that its Dakar success was no flash in the pan by defending its title at the first attempt. This year, the X-raid Team and the MINI brand are aiming at clinching their third consecutive Dakar title when the 2014 Dakar ends in Valparaiso, Chile, on 18th January.

2014 Dakar MINI Driver Lineup.

#300 MINI ALL4 Racing.

Monster Energy X-raid Team

Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-Paul Cottret (FR/FR)

#301 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Nasser Al-Attiyah/Lucas Cruz (QT/ES)

#304 MINI ALL4 Racing.

Monster Energy X-raid Team

Joan “Nani” Roma/Michel Périn (ES/FR)

#307 MINI ALL4 Racing.

Monster Energy X-raid Team

Orlando Terranova/Paulo Fiúza (AR/PT).

#309 MINI ALL4 Racing.

Monster Energy X-raid Team

Krzysztof Holowczyc/Konstantin Zhiltsov (PL/RU)

#314 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Vladimir Vasilyev/Vitaliy Yevtyekhov (RU/RU)

#317 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Boris Garafulic/Gilles Picard (CL/FR)

#319 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Zhou Yong/Pan Hong Yu (CN/CN)

#330 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Federico Villagra/Jorge Perez Companc (AR/AR)

#332 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team.

Martin Kaczmarski/Filipe Palmeiro (PL/PT)

#337 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Stephan Schott/Holm Schmidt (DE/DE)

Media Contact.

BMW Sports Communications
Danilo Coglianese
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E-mail: danilo.coglianese@bmwgroup.com
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