Stage 10 result is still unclear at the back where Holowczyc is still struggling to get to the line. He's been stopped at least twice and has lost hours (I think) on the leaders. The top ten finishers are clear though. 1 - MINI 2 - MINI 3 - Toyota 4 - Hummer 5 - Mitsubishi 6 - MINI 7 - MINI 8 - Great Wall 9 - BMW 10 - Toyota
I think you guys get the same coverage as we get in Yurp on Eurosport - presumably you get a different commentator. So did you see the bit where Sven Quandt, BMW team manager, showed a standard Countryman and the Dakar "Mini"? He said the production and rally cars share headlights, taillights, door handles, windscreen/shield, a few interior parts... and that's it. Everything else is different. Nice to see even BMW aren't pretending it's a Mini.
Indeed, purpose-built vehicles -- built by neither MINI nor BMW -- where purpose = success at Dakar. You build the chassis, suspension, drive train, etc, and then fit a body shell and any other associated bits and pieces you can that won't detract from function. I haven't seen that side-by-side bit with Quandt, I'll watch for it. Thanks for the heads-up.
The X-Raid MINIs did well today, note the podium sweep. Top 10 on Stage 11: 1 - MINI 2 - MINI 3 - MINI 4 - Toyota 5 - MINI 6 - MINI 7 - Mitsubishi 8 - BMW 9 - Toyota 10 - Toyota
Apparently there is some controversy regarding Robby Gordon and Peterhansel... Are the French discriminating against Robby Gordon? (Jalopnik)
All very true. Even so, the average and casual fan only sees the word "MINI" stamped on the roof above the windscreen and listed in the stage results. I'm still taking a lot of enjoyment in the brand association and the broad publicity, however misguided it may actually be under the surface.
Top 10 after Stage 11: 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 032:38:05 02 #305 Roma/Périn MINI 033:00:54 00:22:49 03 #301 De Villiers/von Zitzewitz Toyota 033:49:06 01:11:01 04 #303 Gordon/Campbell Hummer 034:48:36 02:10:31 05 #312 Novitskiy/Schulz MINI 034:49:15 02:11:10 06 #319 Alvarez/Graue Toyota 036:31:56 03:53:51 07 #307 Sousa/Garcin Great Wall 036:42:48 04:04:43 08 #314 Ten Brinke/Baumel Mitsubishi 036:55:41 04:17:36 09 #309 Leal dos Santos/Fuiza MINI 037:16:16 04:38:11 10 #313 Vos/Howie Toyota 037:28:26 04:50:21 #304, Holowczyc/Fortin is 11th after yesterday's big problems and huge time loss (038:35:17 @ 05hr, 57min, 12sec behind Peterhansel).
Stage 9 video: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DABEAZ9UtT0]Dakar Stage 9 -- Peterhansel Keeps Gordon in Check. - YouTube[/ame]
Gordon is well behind so he's going all out to gain any time he can, he gained more than 26 min on Peterhansel today. I think all but one of the MINIs got stuck in the dunes...Gordon did not. Stage 12 results: 1 - Hummer 2 - MINI (Novitskiy) 3 - Toyota 4 - Mitsubishi 5 - MINI (Roma) 6 - Toyota 7 - MINI (Peterhansel) 8 - SMG 9 - MINI (Leal Dos Santos) 10 - Great Wall 11 - BMW 12 - MINI (Holowczyc)