Dakar 2013

Steve · Jan 18, 2013

Steve · Jan 18, 2013

Steve · Jan 18, 2013

Dakar: final day dawns (iRallylive.com)

18.01.2013 22:43

The last day of the 2013 Dakar Rally will get under way on Saturday morning local time in Chile, with the remaining Bikes, Quads, Cars and Trucks tackling the final 346km stage into Santiago.

The Bikes and Quads start the 121km connection section at 0813 local time, the Cars and Trucks at 0813.

StÃ©phane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret in their Monster X-Raid All4Racing MINI have a 44 minute 38 second lead over Giniel De Villiers in his Toyota Hilux: Cyril Despres leads the Bikes, Marcos Patronelli the Quads, and Eduard Nikolaev the Trucks.

The remaining Race2Recovery Wildcat, with Matt O'Hare and Barney Gillespie, is currently through Waypoint 8, ahead of the second part of Friday's Stage 13.
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minimark · Jan 19, 2013

Fingers crossed!!

Steve · Jan 19, 2013

The X-Raid team couldn't have hoped for much more.

Provisional result:

1 - Peterhansel - MINI
2 - de Villiers - Toyota
3 - Novitskiy - MINI
4 - Roma - MINI
5 - Terranova - (X-Raid) BMW

Gil-galad · Jan 19, 2013

Fantastic news. Thanks for keeping us posted Steve!

Steve · Jan 19, 2013

Race2Recovery makes history (iRallylive.com)

19.01.2013 22:06

The Race2Recovery team has made history on the Dakar Rally by becoming the first-ever partly-disabled team to complete the arduous event.

Race2Recovery, a team drawn mainly from wounded ex-Service personnel inclusing several amputees, had three goals: to finish the event, to show that serious injuries are no barrier to extraordinary achievement, and to raise money for the Tedworth House Personnel Recovery Centre in the UK, which offers lifetime support for injured British Services personnel.

The team has succeeded in all 3 aims: a short while ago, their sole surviving vehicle, the Wildcat Bowler driven by Major Matt O'Hare and Corporal Philip 'Barney' Gillespie passed the final checkpoint.

The car is now being shepherded home by the rest of the team.

iRally is proud to have been an earlier supporter of Race2Recovery: if you wish to donate to the Race2Recovery Foundation and help Tedworth House, visit Home - Race2Recovery | beyond injury, achieving the extraordinary.
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Steve · Jan 19, 2013

"Joy" for Race2Recovery at the Finish (iRallylive.com)

19.01.2013 22:22

Tim O'Hare kindly tweeted this image of the Race2Recovery Wildcat Bowler "Joy" at the Finish in Santiago...

"Joy" was funded by The Peter Harrison Foundation and named "Joy" after Peter's wife who died last September.

With some apologies to the poet John Keats, "Joy" is a thing of beauty - forever...
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Steve · Jan 19, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unmd5camNtg]Leg 14 - 2013 Dakar - Best-of-RallyLive.com (GB) - YouTube[/ame]

papa-j · Jan 19, 2013

Excellent coverage Steve. Many thanks. MINI did great! Peterhansel is making it look like a normal race.....wow.

Steve · Jan 19, 2013

Steve · Jan 20, 2013

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_Dg_ScJndw]Dakar 2013 - Best of Car - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRsBXDsxqbg]Dakar 2013 - Best of Bike - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWSPNWaxZvE]Dakar 2013 - Best of Truck / Quad - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jan 20, 2013

May as well have the MINI Motorsport story in here.

Peterhansel wins the 2013 Dakar in a MINI

19 January 2013

After his victory at the 2012 Dakar, record winner StÃ©phane Peterhansel again emerges from the toughest rally in the world as the number one in his MINI ALL4 Racing.

Nothing and nobody could stop StÃ©phane Peterhansel. Not the difficult dune sections that really put the competitors at the 2013 Rally Dakar to the test shortly after the start in Lima. Not the majestic Andes, whose gigantic heights the rally crossed not once but twice this year. Not the relentless heat of the Atacama Desert, which has not experienced a single drop of rain in living memory. And not the strong opposition from 151 participants in this year’s car class, all of whom had to be taken seriously. On the 15th day of the Dakar, and over 8,000 kilometres since the start in the capital of Peru, it was finally confirmed: the winner of the 2013 Rally Dakar is the X-raid Team’s StÃ©phane Peterhansel in the number 302 MINI ALL4 Racing.

The latest win at the toughest endurance rally in the world is another milestone in the illustrious career of the 47-year-old Frenchman. He has now won the Dakar on eleven occasions – six times on a bike and five in a car. No other driver has ever achieved this feat. StÃ©phane had already ensured that his name will go down in the Dakar history books and the motorsport annals. In 2012 he won the Dakar in a MINI ALL4 Racing for the first time, presenting the X-raid Team with its first ever title at the most famous rally in the world. In May of last year, he announced that he would defend his title at the 2013 Dakar – which he did in impressive style.

“Mr. Dakar” is the Dakar.

Cheered on by thousands of fans, StÃ©phane crossed the finish line in Santiago de Chile with an impressive lead of 42:22 minutes over the second-placed driver in the overall classification, Giniel de Villiers. In the car category, StÃ©phane is only the fifth winner in the history of the Dakar to successfully defend his title. Only Jean-Louis Schlesser (1999-2000), Hiroshi Masuoka (2002-2003), Ari Vatanen (1989-1991) and Pierre Lartigue (1994-1996) had achieved the feat before him, whereby Vatanen and Lartigue made two successful defences in a row. But with his 2013 victory, StÃ©phane is the only driver in the cars category with two back-to-back titles (2004-2005, 2012-2013). This, plus the record number of overall victories means StÃ©phane can lay claim to possibly the greatest Rally Dakar honours, which comes in the form of a seemingly modest nickname: StÃ©phane is known as “Mr. Dakar”. Not only does he have the most Dakar victories to his name, but StÃ©phane also embodies everything that makes the Dakar so fascinating: endurance, toughness, tactical aptitude, driving ability and, of course, success.

Going into the 2013 event, the conditions were far from ideal for StÃ©phane and the X-raid Team, and did not necessarily point towards another victory. The organisers had introduced rules that allowed all petrol-driven cars greater performance than diesel cars like the MINI ALL4 Racing. Furthermore, the many Buggys in the field not only lined up with more performance, but also less weight. For comparison: the engine in the MINI ALL4 Racing produces 307 hp, the Buggys started with 420 hp and were about 500 kilograms lighter than the MINI ALL4 Racing. However, X-raid Team Principal Sven Quandt knew all he needed to regarding the qualities of the MINI: “Maybe we can’t beat the opposition in terms of raw speed – but we probably can when it came to the reliability of the MINI in general and the MINI’s handling on sand in particular.”

Every faith in the MINI ALL4 Racing.

And that was exactly the case. The MINI ALL4 Racing was a guarantee of reliability at the 2013 Dakar. There were absolutely no technical faults to complain of, and the overall result was evidence of the MINI’s class. As well as StÃ©phane in first place, his team-mates Leonid Novitskiy in the orange MINI ALL4 Racing finished third and Nani Roma in the yellow MINI came home in fourth. In addition, the MINI trio claimed six of 14 possible stage wins, which means that more than 42 per cent of the stages were won by a MINI. A remarkable result. However, StÃ©phane never had any doubt about the qualities of the MINI ALL4 Racing. Shortly before the start of the Dakar he said: “I have every faith in the MINI.” And the MINI repaid this trust at the 2013 Dakar – a fact that StÃ©phane valued highly at the end of the rally.

“As in 2012, we did not have a single technical fault on the MINI to complain about. As such, I am delighted that I was able to defend my title in the MINI ALL4 Racing,” said StÃ©phane. “It was once again an exciting Dakar and the victory is amazing, even though I have lined up at the Dakar so often. Up until its win last year, the X-raid Team had had to wait a long time for a victory. And now it has defended its title! That was only possible as a team, however. I would like to thank everyone involved for the work they put in.” Praise that Team Principal Quandt was happy to return: “We knew that it would not be easy to win another Dakar. But we also knew how well prepared we were as a team and just what the MINI is capable of. That, plus the great performances put in by our driving teams, particularly StÃ©phane Peterhansel, who I would like to congratulate on his eleventh Dakar win, allowed us to be successful again this year.”

As such, an outstanding 2013 Rally Dakar for the X-raid Team and MINI draws to a close. However, before StÃ©phane and Co. begin their long journey home, they can enjoy the presentation ceremony and champagne shower. Both will take place on Sunday afternoon (local time) at the heart of Santiago de Chile, close to the Centro Cultural Palacio de La Moneda. You will shortly be able to find the best images from the winner’s party at Facebook.com/MINImotorsport in the “2013 Rally Dakar” gallery.

Provisional final top five (after leg 14):

1. Peterhansel, 2. de Villiers, 3. Novitskiy, 4. Roma, 5. Terranova
Click to expand...

Gil-galad · Jan 20, 2013

I must say, I wasn't expecting 78% of the "Best of Car" video to be all Hummer and Buggy...particularly when MINI had 42% of the stage wins. :mad5:

Steve · Jan 22, 2013

I guess it's clear Michelin is a sponsor... :biggrin5:

Emotion - Dakar XtreM Adventure powered by Michelin (best-of-rallylive.com)

22/01/2013 7:33 am

Emotion, mixed with pride and joy, was running high when the 2013 Dakarâ€™s survivors reached the finish in Santiago after an adventure of some 8,500 kilometres across South America.

Like Alonso de Monroyâ€™s troops in 1543, we departed from Lima, Peru, and were welcomed into the city of Santiago, Chile, as heroes. There were no conquistadors amongst us, just competitors and adventurers with a taste for exploring labyrinths of dunes, rios, the Andes Mountains and the Atacama Desert on modern-day steeds: bikes, cars, trucks and quadsâ€¦

At the end of the eventâ€™s final stage, between Santiago and Valparaiso, we could see drivers and riders celebrating, bikers sat in the shade of the acacia trees almost crying, like Italyâ€™s Lorenzo Napodano who had just fulfilled a dream of 30 years, that of reaching the finish of his first Dakar. The fears and joys he had experienced over the last punishing two weeks could be clearly read in his eyes.

After the stage, Ruta 5, which slices through the outskirts of Santiago, set the scene for a joyful procession as the Dakarâ€™s caravan entered the Chilean capital to the cheers of thousands of curious onlookers along the streets and around the service park, near the Club Hipico.

Meanwhile, the Palacio de la Moneda was preparing to host the official finish ceremony on the podium which the competitors crossed after a parade down Avenida Bernardo Oâ€™Higgins to Plaza Baquenado, between the San Borja and Cerra Santa Lucia parks, where the city was founded in 1541.

Palacio de la Moneda is one of the finest buildings left by the Spaniards in Latin America, although they stopped minting coins there a long time ago. Today, it serves as Chileâ€™s presidential headquarters and still shows marks of the Republicâ€™s more turbulent past.

Itâ€™s a public holiday in Santiago and the sunshine gradually clears the morning fog blown in from the Pacific to show off the rally cars, trucks and bikes at their pristine, glinting best. For the last time, haggard bodies slip into worn race suits. Proudly wearing their Michelin caps, the heroes of this extraordinary competition are ready for the ceremony in front of the Palacio de la Moneda...
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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul8UrJlQ74c]2013 Dakar - Emotion - XtreM Adventure powered by Michelin - YouTube[/ame]

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