– Al-Rajhi and Hirvonen sixth and eighth in the overall rankings
– Burning heat a hard test for the competitors and the teams
In the second stage of the 2017 Dakar, from Resistencia to San Miguel de Tucuman, the two MINI John Cooper Works Rally pairings Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA) / Timo Gottschalk (GER) and Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) / Michel Périn (FRA) once again made it to the top 10.
Al-Rajhi finished sixth, two positions ahead of his Finnish team mate – and in the overall standings, they now also hold sixth and eighth positions. Poland’s Kuba Przygonski and his Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul were pipped in the battle for a top-10 position and finished 11th, with their MINI ALL4 Racing but improved by one position in the overall standings and hold 12th position, now. Orlando Terranova (ARG) / Andreas Schulz (GER) took their MINI John Cooper Works Rally to 13th place. The heat and the mud that covered the cars completely when they arrived at the bivouac made the water temperatures in the cars rise massively.
“Today’s special stage wasn’t so nice,