- Monster Energy X-raid line-up keeps on growing
- The MINI ALL4 Racing vehicles once again will turn the desert into a colourful place
Leonid Novitskiy is going to race the Monster Energy X-raid Team’s fourth MINI ALL4 Racing, in the 2013 Dakar Rally. Together with his co-driver Konstantin Zhiltsov, the Russian represents the next addition to the line-up of the Trebur based team. The pairings Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA)/ Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA), Nani Roma (ESP)/ Michel Périn (FRA) and Krzysztof Holowczyc (POL)/ Filipe Palmeiro (POR) extended their deals with the team earlier.
In the 2012 Dakar, Novitskiy impressed by securing the fine fourth place. The 44-year old started into the event in great style by winning the first special stage and made it to the top 10 on every single day. Particularly in the dunes of Peru, he demonstrated his extraordinary skills. Here, many drivers were taken to their very limit but Novitskiy delivered by securing top-four positions in each of these special stages. Just a few months earlier, he won the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup for the second consecutive time.
The four MINI ALL4 Racing vehicles once again will turn the desert into a colourful place: Peterhansel again will race a green MINI ALL4 Racing, with Roma and Novitskiy also contesting the Dakar in a similar livery as last year: yellow and orange respectively. Holowczyc, however, will race a white MINI ALL4 Racing, in the 2013 Dakar Rally.
“I’m really delighted that Leonid also is back in our line-up for the Dakar,” says Monster Energy X-raid Team Manager Sven Quandt. “He convinces in particular by his consistent style of driving. With his approach, he avoids getting involved in any difficulties and secures good results. A fact that was demonstrated by his two FIA World Cup titles and his fourth place in this year‘s Dakar.”
The 2013 Dakar will be started on 05th January, 2013, in Peru’s capital Lima. Following the day of rest in San Miguel, Argentina, the Dakar will be continued to be finished on 20th January in Chile’s capital, Santiago.
