MINI extends Dakar Rally commitment until 2017.

MINI extends Dakar Rally commitment until 2017 .

Munich (DE). MINI will continue to play an important role in the Dakar Rally. Just 26 days ahead of the start of the 2015 Dakar Rally (4-17 January), Jochen Goller, Senior Vice President MINI, has announced the two-year extension of the brand’s Dakar Rally programme until the year 2017.

During the MINI @ Dakar 2015 Media Round Table, held in the MINI Motorsport section of the BMW Museum as the heart of the BMW Group, Goller said: “The Dakar Rally is the ultimate challenge for all drivers and teams, making it one of the most enthralling events in the world of motorsport. MINI has taken on this unique challenge with great success in recent years. The Dakar gives the MINI brand a unique opportunity to connect with its fans worldwide, with Dakar enthusiasts and people who look beyond statistics and results to enjoy sports in such fascinating, exotic places. These strategic reasons and our constant desire to improve were behind the key decision to extend our Dakar engagement far beyond the 2015 Dakar Rally into 2016 and 2017, together with our strategic partner in motorsport, X-raid.”

“With its three consecutive Dakar Rally victories from 2012 to 2014,” Goller continued, “MINI has played a major role in the history of this iconic rally. For the past three Dakar editions, the MINI ALL4 Racing with its core qualities of performance, reliability and agility has proved that it is the car to beat. Our goal for 2015 is to achieve a great team result, just like we did in 2014.” The partnership between X-raid and MINI started in 2010. In the following year, the Germany-based team entered the prestigious Dakar Rally with the MINI ALL4 Racing, based on the MINI John Cooper Works Countryman. In 2012, the MINI ALL4 Racing claimed its first Dakar victory, and repeated this feat in 2013 and 2014 when Joan “Nani” Roma (ES) successfully completed the title hat-trick, including an outstanding team result: three MINI ALL4 Racing finished the Dakar on the podium and seven finished in the top ten.

In 2015, a total of ten MINI ALL4 Racing, with driver crews from twelve countries will take on the ultimate motorsport adventure of the Dakar Rally led by defending champion Joan “Nani” Roma. “The Dakar Rally is a tough challenge and there are many new, strong competitors on the entry list. But MINI and X-raid are very experienced and we have a very fast and reliable car in the MINI ALL4 Racing. There’s no doubt that we are capable of winning, no matter who our opponents are,” said Roma.

MINI ALL4 Racing 2015 Dakar Rally Line-Up.

Monster Energy Rally Raid Team.

#300  Joan “Nani” Roma/Michel Périn (ES/FR)

#305  Orlando Terranova/Bernardo “Ronnie” Graue (AR/AR)

#306  Krzysztof Holowczyc/Xavier Panseri (PL/FR)

X-raid Team.

#310  Vladimir Vasilyev/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RU/RU)

#314  Erik van Loon/Wouter Rosegaar (NL/NL)

#319  Boris Garafulic/Filipe Palmeiro (CL/PT)

#329  Aidyn Rakhimbayev/Anton Nikolaev (KZ/RU)

#332  Zhou Yong (CN)

#334  Stephan Schott/Holm Schmidt (DE/DE)

Qatar Rally Team.

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