Hampton Roads Club Mini

I'm sure by now you've all heard of the sensational performance by the five car MINI team in this years Dakar Rally, with finishing postions 1, 2, 4, 8 and 10 - all 5 finishing in the top ten - this was nothing short of spectacular!  Here are a couple of news articles plus some fun videos.
 
MINI Officially Congratulates X-raid Motorsports on their Dakar Win

The MINI All4 team has won Dakar. No it’s not an actual Countryman like the WRC rally car is but this is the Dakar. Something much more serious is required to not just race but survive. Therefore the X-road Countryman is a tubular framed off-road race car that was designed by the MINI Design team and is powered by a BMW Motorsport engine. And now we can also call it a Dakar winner.

Official Release: Stéphane Peterhansel (FR) and his co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret (FR) have made it. At the end of the last of 14 demanding stages, the duo and its green MINI ALL4 Racing was confirmed as the winner of the legendary Rally Dakar in a time of 38h 54m 46s. This was Peterhansel’s tenth victory at the “Dakar”. He had already claimed six titles on a motorcycle, and now has four wins in the car category to his name.

Dr. Kay Segler, Senior Vice President, MINI Brand Management and Business Coordination, said: “On behalf of MINI, I would like to congratulate Stéphane Peterhansel, his co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret and the entire X-raid team on their triumph at the 2012 Rally Dakar. To stand on the top step of the podium on ten occasions after the toughest rally in the world is quite simply an unbelievable achievement. Sven Quandt’s team has once again proven its class with all five MINI ALL4 Racings finishing in the top ten.” Joan “Nani” Roma (ES) and Michel Périn (FR), also driving a MINI ALL4 Racing, finished runner-up to complete a one-two for the German Monster Energy X-raid Team. When the rally came to a close in Lima, Peru, the gap between the two leading MINI cars was nearly 42 minutes.


A couple more articles on the MINI All4 team accomplishments, courtesy of Minimotorsports.com:

http://www.minimotorsport.com/en/news/peterhansel_celebrates_his_10th_dakar_victory

http://www.minimotorsport.com/en/news/peterhansel_s_secret_to_winning_the_dakar


Here is a cool video about the Dakar Countryman - including a short segment on the building of the racer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUR07XXAM3g&feature=player_embedded



Here's another fun one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdP-RejAT-4&feature=endscreen&NR=1

 

 

AND it was a privateer team.

AND Robby Gordon was disqualified, even though he's appealing.