MOTORSPORT: MINI dominates Dakar, WRC a goer too
MINIs occupy four of the top six places on the Dakar Rally, including top spot, and have won three of the four stages, while the manufacturer is poised to confirm a limited WRC campaignMINIs have won three of the four stages so far in the Dakar in South America, with French star Stephane Peterhansel the leader for the second time this week after winning the fourth stage overnight. There are three MINI All4 Racings in the top four -- and four in the top six. They are not manufacturer entries this year but have been entered by Germany's X-raid, which is strongly aligned with BMW -- and also is fielding three BMW X3s.
Meanwhile, Britain's authoritative Autosport is reporting that MINI will continue in the WRC this year -- but with only one full-time entry. The modern, German-owned MINI ran a partial WRC campaign in 2011, achieving two podiums, and had been expected to field two full-time entries this year prepared by its partner, David Richards' Prodrive -- which operates Ford Performance Vehicles and Ford Performance Racing in Australia.
However, MINI missed the December deadline for entering the WRC manufacturers' championship -- and the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) had given it until March 27 to confirm its participation.
Autosport has now quoted an FIA source saying: "We have an agreement that MINI will be registered as a manufacturer for this year's championship."
However, the source said the situation was "not ideal".
"We wanted ... the original plan of two cars, two drivers -- (Spaniard) Dani Sordo and (Brit) Kris Meeke doing all 13 rounds," he said. "That wasn't possible, so we had to find a solution -- which we have done.
"The priority is that MINI is a manufacturer in the 2012 WRC (against Citroen and Ford)."
There have been financial issues between the manufacturer and Prodrive -- and MINI has been greatly concerned by the turmoil within the WRC and the level of TV coverage of the championship, especially in Germany.
The company which has had the commercial rights to the WRC, Convers Sports Initiatives, has gone into administration and its Russian head has been under investigation and was briefly arrested late last year. Convers has owned the WRC's promoter and telecaster, Britain's North One Sports.
While MINI's WRC entry is yet to be officially announced, its participation in this month's Monte Carlo Rally was already assured.
The January 18-22 "Monte" will be the first time the iconic rally has been part of the WRC since 2008.
In its earlier carnation as an iconic British marque Mini won the "Monte" three times in the 1960s -- with Paddy Hopkirk (1964), Timo Makinen (1965) and Rauno Altonen (1967).
Sordo will drive one of the modern John Cooper MINIs in this month's "Monte", but French pay driver Pierre Campana will be in the entry Meeke was expected to fill.
Meanwhile, in the Dakar the nine-time winner of the event in its days in Europe and Africa, Peterhansel, regained the lead after last year's winner, Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah, lost 15 minutes in the Hummer he is driving this year after his victory with VW. Al-Attiyah came to a halt 40km from the end of the fourth stage but got underway again after the sister Hummer of American Robby Gordon pulled alongside him.
Al-Attiyah still set the seventh best time of the day, but is now more than half an hour off the lead -- instead of just 6½ minutes at the start of the stage.
Hummer team boss Gordon had various troubles on stage four too and has dropped from second to fifth and is more than 17 minutes behind Peterhansel.
South African Giniel de Villiers, the 2009 winner for VW and now in a Toyota HiLux, also lost time to "Peter" but still moved up from third to second, almost six minutes behind the leader.
Argentinian driver Orlando Terranova finished second on stage four in another Toyota.
Spaniard Nani Roma and Poland's Krzysztof Holowczyc are third and fourth overall in MINIs, with Russian Leonid Novitskiy sixth in another MINI -- ahead of Al-Attiyah in seventh.
Australia's Geoff Olholm was an excellent 25th 4WD Rabe XI Desert Warrior after stage three, while six Aussies are competing in the bike section.
While results are a little slow coming through for competitors other than the leaders, the SBS website (sbs.com.au) has an easy way to check the progress of the Aussies -- go into results under Dakar in its sports section, then chose either the car or bike category and then "Aussies".
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