In the fourth stage of the 2013 Dakar Rally, from Nazca to Arequipa, the Monster Energy X-raid Team’s MINI ALL4 Racing once again proved to be the fastest AWD vehicle in the field, with French pairing Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret taking their green MINI ALL4 Racing to third position behind the two buggies of Nasser Al Attiyah and Guerlain Chicherit. With this result, Peterhansel succeeded in defending his lead in the overall ranking. “It’s a question of strategy,” said the French driver. “We must avoid making any mistakes – no matter if it’s about the navigation, the driving or the technology. If we succeed in doing so we will be able to prevail against the buggies.”
Meanwhile, Spaniard Nani Roma and his French co-driver Michel Périn demonstrated again that the bad luck that had encountered on day two didn’t make an impact on their competitiveness. They finished fifth, with their yellow MINI ALL4 Racing. “Today’s special stage proved to be difficult, too,” revealed Roma. “We had to stop for a moment as we had to inflate the tires after the dunes and Chicherit used this moment to overtake us. Consequently, we had to continue behind him and lost some time.” By coming sixth, the Russians Leonid Novitskiy and Konstantin Zhiltsov completed the great team result for the Monster Energy X-raid Team.
Chilean Boris Garafulic and his French team-mate Gilles Picard took their MINI ALL4 Racing to 17th position while Argentinean Orlando Terranova and Portuguese Paolo Fiúza took their BMW X3 CC to 22nd place. A technical problem cost the Germans Stephan Schott and Holm Schmidt a lot of time and therefore, they still are on their way to completing the special stage.
Following the second special stage, the race control had opted for crediting 21 minutes to Carlos Sainz as he stated that his GPS system (that is provided by the organisers) was damaged. The Monster Energy X-raid Team appealed against this decision and on the evening of day three, this appeal was successful. Consequently, the 21 minutes were added again to the Spaniard’s overall time.
Tomorrow, the Dakar Rally field leaves Peru and crosses the border to Chile. The 509-kilometre stage takes the competitors from Arequipa to Arica. At first, they have to cover 284 liaison kilometres to afterwards contest a 172 kilometre special stage, followed by another 52-kilometre liaison section to the bivouac. The special stage is contested in the Andes and will take the vehicles from valley to valley. Therefore, it will be particularly demanding for the navigators.
Result stage 4 (Nazca – Arequipa):
1. N. Al Attiyah (QAT) / L. Cruz (ESP) Buggy – 3h 28m 46s
2. G. Chicherit (FRA) / J.-P. Garsin (FRA) Buggy – 3h 29m 22s
3. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 3h 30m 03s
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5. N. Roma (ESP) / M. Périn (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 3h 36m 13s
6. L. Novitskiy (RUS) / K. Zhiltsov (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing – 3h 42m 41s
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17. B. Garafulic (CHI) / G. Picard (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 25m 14s
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22. O. Terranova (ARG) / P. Fiúza (POR) BMW X3 CC – 4h 48m 48s
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tba. S. Schott (GER) / H. Schmidt (GER) MINI ALL4 Racing
Overall standings after 4th stage:
1. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 9h 04m 29s
2. N. Al Attiyah (QAT) / L. Cruz (ESP) Buggy – 9h 09m 45s
3. G. De Villiers (RSA) / D. Von Zitzewitz (GER) Toyota – 9h 37m 51s
4. L. Novitskiy (RUS) / K. Zhiltsov (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing – 9h 38m 17s
5. N. Roma (ESP) / M. Périn (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 9h 43m 35s
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14. B. Garafulic (CHI) / G. Picard (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 10h 57m 54s
15. O. Terranova (ARG) / P. Fiúza (POR) BMW X3 CC – 10h 58m 27s
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tba. S. Schott (GER) / H. Schmidt (GER) MINI ALL4 Racing
