“I want to thank Stéphane,” said team manager Sven Quandt. “He is a fantastic driver and a great person. We have written many chapters in the history books with him. We won the first Dakar Rally with the MINI ALL4 Racing. And he has been one of the key people in making the X-raid team and the MINI ALL4 Racing grown. We have now decided to part ways by mutual consent. Our team is well structured and organised. We are very much looking forward to the next Dakar Rally and all the other challenges which lie ahead. I see a bright future for our team. We all wish Stéphane the best for his new challenge.”
The Monster Energy X-raid team and Peterhansel look back on a very successful partnership. After the Dakar Rally of 2009, the Frenchman became part of the team and drove a BMW X3 CC in the following years. In the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2011, he won the first race in the history of the MINI ALL4 Racing and in 2012 and 2013 Peterhansel won the Dakar Rally twice. The contract would have still included Dakar 2015 but, after some trusting conversations, team and driver have decided to release him already by the end of May 2014, in order to leave the Frenchman the opportunity for a new challenge. His contract was dissolved amicably by mutual consent.
“After five years of successfully working together and two Dakar victories in total, I want to take on a new challenge,” explains Stéphane Peterhansel. “I very much thank Sven Quandt and all the employees of X-raid for the successful years in which I had the opportunity to drive the MINI.”
