Stage 5 results: 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th! Overall ranking (top 10 only) after Stage 5: Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Column 6 Rank Driver/Co-Driver Manufacturer Time Gap to 1st 01 #302 Peterhansel/Cottret MINI 11:58:03 02 #304 Holowczyc/Fortin MINI 12:02:21 00:04:18 03 #305 Roma/Périn MINI 12:08:42 00:10:39 04 #303 Gordon/Campbell Hummer 12:11:35 00:13:32 05 #301 De Villiers/von Zitzewitz Toyota 12:19:04 00:21:01 06 #312 Novitskiy/Schulz MINI 12:28:54 00:30:51 07 #307 Sousa/Garcin Great Wall 12:38:58 00:40:55 08 #300 Al-Attiyah/Cruz Hummer 12:48:50 00:50:47 09 #315 Van Loon/Scholtablers Mitsubishi 12:51:36 00:53:33 10 #319 Alvarez/Graue Toyota 12:57:13 00:59:10 After that huge time loss on Stage 3 (finishing 2hr 40min behind the stage winner) the 5th "MINI" (#309, Leal dos Santos/Fuiza) has worked its way back up to 20th place with a total time of 15:06:06, 03:08:03 off the lead.
Catching up... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MObNBS7Lb3o]Dakar Day 2 -- Peterhansel Takes The Lead. - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6HEc6LgHwo]Dakar Stage 3 -- Holowczyc Moves Into Pole Position. - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEKzZroCQ8U]Dakar Day 4 -- Peterhansel Regains the Lead. - YouTube[/ame]
Now remember everyone.....these are simply last years BMW X3's with a Countryman -esque body. In fact the Xraid team is also still running 3 of the X3's in this years race.
An X-Raid Dakar MINI isn't a Cooper a Clubman or even a real Countryman but technically it was never a BMW X3 either, any more than the VWs are or ever were Touareg's, etc, etc. As is common, the X-Raid Team built those things from the ground up and fit an X3-esque body shell (and a BMW diesel engine w/ twin turbos). This year the chassis and suspension were altered for the group of 5 "MINIs", intending to lower the center of gravity (and I forget the other goal) and they fit a MINI Countryman-esque body shell.
I'm not sure whether I'm reading this right but it looks like they're planning to cancel Stage 6 tomorrow due to effects of weather on the course.
I think they would drag on the ground on our cars, Mark and the car behind you would trip over them. :lol: Jim
I just checked in on the status along Stage 7 and the 5 MINIs were all in the top 8 at check point 6 (that's a bit past half way). Lots of dunes to come, anything can happen there. Interesting that other than a Toyota or two, a Mitsubishi, and a "Great Wall" (apparently a Chinese make) the competition at the front so far this year is between MINIs and Hummers.
Stage 7 top 10: 1 - Hummer 2 - Hummer 3 - MINI 4 - MINI 5 - MINI 6 - Toyota 7 - MINI 8 - MINI 9 - Great Wall 10 - Mitsubishi
Top 10 after Stage 7: Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Column 6 Rank Driver/Co-Driver Manufacturer Time Gap to 1st 01 #302 Peterhansel/Cottret MINI 15:32:53 02 #304 Holowczyc/Fortin MINI 15:44:15 00:11:22 03 #303 Gordon/Campbell Hummer 15:46:02 00:13:09 04 #305 Roma/Périn MINI 15:50:58 00:18:05 05 #301 De Villiers/von Zitzewitz Toyota 16:07:00 00:34:07 06 #300 Al-Attiyah/Cruz Hummer 16:15:47 00:42:54 07 #312 Novitskiy/Schulz MINI 16:27:19 00:54:26 08 #307 Sousa/Garcin Great Wall 16:45:43 01:12:50 09 #319 Alvarez/Graue Toyota 17:14:31 01:41:38 10 #315 Van Loon/Scholtablers Mitsubishi 17:21:32 01:48:39 #309, Leal dos Santos/Fuiza, finished 7th on the stage today and moved up to 16th place (19:01:28, 03:28:35).