– Eighth place for Despres
– Peterhansel forced to retire
Lady Luck deserted the X-raid MINI John Cooper Works Team today. Cyril Despres and Jean-Paul Cottret (both FRA) finished eighth on stage nine. The two Spaniards Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz are ranked 41st after a time penalty. Meanwhile, the 2019 Dakar came to a premature end for Stéphane Peterhansel and David Castera (both FRA).
The streak of bad luck continued today for Despres and Cottret. Despite this, they still managed to finish eighth and are currently fifth overall. “We first stopped for Stéphane shortly after the start, to see whether we could help at all,