MINI dominates Baja Aragón with MINI ALL4 Racing crews taking the top three positions // MINI ALL4 Racing and Joan ‘Nani’ Roma takes the win at Baja Aragón; Orlando Terranova places second; Mikko Hirvonen completes first race with strong third

Press Release

26 July 2015

MINI dominates Baja Aragón with MINI ALL4 Racing crews taking the top three positions // MINI ALL4 Racing and Joan ‘Nani’ Roma takes the win at Baja Aragón; Orlando Terranova places second; Mikko Hirvonen completes first race with strong third

Munich (DE). Round six of the 2015 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup, Baja Aragón (24-26th July), saw yet another demolition act by MINI and its MINI ALL4 Racing crews. At race end, the top three positions were filled by MINI ALL4 Racing…

Claiming first place with a sensational drive, and possibly with a little help from local knowledge, was the Spanish pairing of Joan Roma and Alex Haro. The two men set the pace from early on by taking the lead after Stage 2 and winning the final Stage 3 despite pressure from other MINI ALL4 racing crews. For Roma, it is yet another success at Baja Aragón by following up his previous three victories in Spain.

“It is quite nice this victory,” said Roma at race end. “It’s not easy to open the route every day. Yesterday was really hard to start the route because of the threat of punctures – you could see the flying stones in the mirrors. Today I started maybe a little slowly from thinking about the stones and the brakes, you know? I wanted to finish at maximum. It was good to work with Alex. And the MINI ALL4 Racing was good, very good.”

The Argentinian duo of Orlando Terranova and Bernardo Graue in MINI ALL4 Racing #209 relied on each other’s skills to ensure a determined and rewarding second place overall at the finishing line. With a smile on his face, Terranova had this to say about Baja Aragón: “It was a very fun race despite the punctures. The good thing was the pace was very good and it was nice to fight with Nani and Mikko. The race was also physically hard because the pace was so incredibly fast.”

Fans of former WRC driver Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) and his ever popular French co-pilot Michel Perin will not be surprised at today’s third place result, despite Baja Aragón being Hirvonen’s first competitive drive in a MINI ALL4 Racing. “I’m happy that we finished… and managed to get to the podium. Such long stages without pace notes means there are lots of new things to learn – and small things kind of matter. With a little luck we could have made second, but it wasn’t to be. I have to say the ‘boys’ are not driving slowly. I was a bit surprised at how quick they drive without pace notes!”

Dutch duo Erik Van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar drove a solid race across some of the harshest, hard-packed and stone-laden terrain to claim a creditable sixth place. Harry Hunt (GBR) and Xavier Panseri (FRA) didn’t get off to the greatest of starts and were playing catch up with the leading MINI ALL4 Racing crews throughout the duration of the race. Final placing was given as 13th.

Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) and Mathieu Baumel (FRA) suffered the worst of all the MINI ALL4 Racing crews. After success in the opening Special Stage on Friday evening, the stony conditions then dealt a cruel hand during Stage 2 in the shape of punctures that used up the onboard spare tyres supply. This meant his support team had to assist. The penalty for this unfortunate but necessary action woud have been too high for Al-Attiyah to continue in the race.

Today’s result sees MINI with its MINI ALL4 Racing retain top spot within the 2015 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup.

2015 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup, round six:

2015 Baja Aragón

MINI ALL4 Racing final positions at official race end:

Race calendar: 2015 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies.

20/02 – 22/02 Baja Russia
27/03 – 2/04 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
18/04 – 24/04 Sealine Cross-Country Rally Qatar
10/05 – 17/05 Pharaons Rally
25/06 – 28/06 Italian Baja
24/07 – 26/07 Baja Aragón
13/08 – 16/08 Hungarian Baja

27/08 – 30/08 Baja Poland

03/10 – 09/10 Rallye du Maroc
22/10 – 24/10 Baja Portalegre 500

Find more photos and videos in high resolution of the MINI ALL4 Racing on the BMW Media Website by clicking here.