Quadruple win for MINI at Rally Morocco // Nasser Al-Attiyah wins ahead of Orlando Terranova, Erik van Loon and Vladimir Vasilyev // Successful dress rehearsal for the 2015 Dakar Rally.

Press Release.

09 October 2014.

Quadruple win for MINI at Rally Morocco // Nasser Al-Attiyah wins ahead of Orlando Terranova, Erik van Loon and Vladimir Vasilyev // Successful dress rehearsal for the 2015 Dakar Rally.

Munich (DE). Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (QT/FR) in their MINI ALL4 Racing car have won the prestigious Rally Morocco, the ninth round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. The X-raid drivers have shown a dominant performance over six legs, on which the participants covered a total of 1991 kilometres. 1441 of them in special stages. Al-Attiyah/Baumel won three stages and crossed the finish line in the capital of Marrakesh ahead of Monster Energy X-raid driver Orlando Terranova/Rolando Graue (AR/AR).

“It’s a great feeling to win here in Morocco,” Al-Attiyah said at the finish in the capital of Marrakesh. “It was a tough challenge, a lot of difficult sandy parts in the desert, where you could get stuck easily. Some sections were a lot trickier than I expected. But my co-driver Mathieu did a great job as always, he’s a great navigator, who always finds the best route. The MINI ALL4 Racing was again very reliable and nice to drive. I love it and I’m now looking forward to the next big challenge, the 2015 Dakar Rally.”

The Rally Morocco, which was held for the 25th time this year, is regarded as a perfect dress rehearsal for the Dakar Rally, which will be held in South America in January. Not only from a driver’s but also from a technical point of view. The route’s of both events are quite similar: Huge sandy dunes with very fine sand and sections on narrow mountain roads.

“I learned a lot during this week, it was definitely a good preparation for the Dakar Rally,” Orlando Terranova said. “I had a good battle with Nasser and it’s a great result for MINI. It shows that we are on a good way for the Dakar.”

Erik van Loon/Wouter Rosegaar (NL/NL) finished the Rally Morocco in 3rd place, scoring their best result of the season so far. Vladimir Vasilyev/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RU/RU) crossed the finish line in 4th position, defending their lead in the World Cup classification.  The next and final round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies will be the Baja Portugal (30 October – 02 November).

2014 Rally Morocco: Provisional Final Result (Top 5).

1. Al-Attiyah/Baumel (QT/FR), MINI ALL4 Racing  – 16h 12m 15s

2. Terranova/Graue (AR/AR), MINI ALL4 Racing – 16h 13m 57s

3. Van Loon/Rosegaar (NL/NL), MINI ALL4 Racing – 16h 54m 02s

4. Vasilyev/Zhiltsov (RU/RU), MINI ALL4 Racing – 17h 00m 08s

5. Ten-Brinke/Colsoul (NL/BE), Toyota - 17h 21m 36s



FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies: Classifications (Top 3).

01       Vladimir Vasilyev (RU)                                           216 pts.

02       Nasser Al-Attiyah (QT)                                           196

03       Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SA)                                              120

2014 Rally Morocco MINI driver line-up.

#300 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Vladimir Vasilyev/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RU/RU)

#301 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (QT/FR)

#304 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Martin Kaczmarski/Tapio Suominen (PL/FI)

#305 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Erik van Loon/Wouter Rosegaar (NL/NL)

#306 MINI ALL4 Racing.

Monster Energy X-raid Team

Orlando Terranova/Rolando Graue (AR/AR)

#307 MINI ALL4 Racing.

Monster Energy X-raid Team

Joan "Nani" Roma/Michel Perin (ES/FR)

#316 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Aidyn Rakhimbayev/Anton Nikolaev (KZ/RU)

#318 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Boris Garafulic/Filipe Palmeiro (CL/PT)

#328 MINI ALL4 Racing.

X-raid Team

Peter van Merksteijn/Eddy Chevaillier (NL/BE)

Race calendar: FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.

14/02 – 16/02 Baja Russia
13/03 – 16/03 Baja Italy
06/04 – 10/04 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
20/04 – 25/04 Sealine Cross-Country Rally Qatar
18/05 – 25/05 Pharaons Rally Egypt
18/07 – 20/07 Baja Aragón
14/08 – 16/08 Baja Hungary
28/08 – 30/08 Baja Poland
03/10 – 09/10 Rally Morocco
30/10 – 02/11 Baja Portugal

Media contact.

BMW Sports Communications
Danilo Coglianese
Telephone: +49-176-601-72405
E-mail: danilo.coglianese@bmwgroup.com
Media website: www.press.bmwgroup-sport.com

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