– Great performance of Erik van Loon
– Special stage stopped due to too high temperatures
The MINI ALL4 Racing vehicles continue their streak of success. None of the MINI ALL4 Racing racers succeeded in winning the special stage but the squad effort of the defending champions was remarkable: three vehicles made it to the top five and six to the top 15! Dutch pairing Erik van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar made for a major surprise by finishing second behind the Peugeot of Carlos Sainz, thus being the fastest representatives of the MINI ALL4 Racing camp.
Right behind them, Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) / Michel Périn (FRA) finished third and Nasser Al-Attyiah (QAT) and Mathieu Baumel (FRA) in fifth position completed the top five.
After having arrived in the service park, Van Loon just couldn’t stop beaming. He hadn’t expected to finish second but his experience helped him working his way up to the front.
“We started with low tyre pressure as I know the region from last year and knew that we would have to face a tough day on soft sand,