• All the three X-raid vehicles make it to the top 10
• Successful debut appearance for the MINI ALL4 Racing’s new engine
X-raid’s Khalifa Al-Mutaiwei (UAE) and his German co-driver Andreas Schulz finished runner-up in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, with their MINI ALL4 Racing. By securing this result, they demonstrated the reliability, durability and competitiveness of the MINI ALL4 Racing’s new engine. Meanwhile, the Russian BMW X3 CC pairing Ilya Kusnetsov / Roman Elagin came fifth in the overall ranking and the Germans Stephan Schott and Holm Schmidt took their KS Tools BMW X3 CC to 10th place.
In the six-day event, Al-Mutaiwei proved to be the winner on one of the days and secured several second places on the others. In the end, he was defeated by just one man – France’s Jean-Louis Schlesser – when crossing the finish line at Abu Dhabi, today. MINI ALL4 Raving driver Al-Mutaiwei, who is making his rally and X-raid team comeback following an eight-year break, this year, wanted to once again really go for it, in today’s final leg – but he and his navigator Schulz lost a lot of time when they had to replace a fan and so, they had to settle for finishing sixth, in the fifth and final leg.
For Kusnetsov, coming third in the final special stage represented a very successful conclusion of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. For the Russian, it was the first event he drove a X-raid BMW X3CC. He finished third twice and in the other legs, he also could be seen again and again among the front runners. For Schott, it was another tough desert rally, following the Dakar. In the fifth special stage, the German finished ninth.
“Altogether, it was a truly tough rally,” said Team X-raid Team Principal Sven Quandt. “We are delighted that we succeeded in finishing the event with all our three cars. And I’m also very happy with Khalifa’s second place.“
Overall result Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2012:
1. J.-L. Schlesser (FRA)/K. Zhilstov (RUS) Schlesser Buggy – 21h 39m 16s
2. K. Al-Mutaiwei (UAE)/A. Schulz (DEU) MINI ALL4 Racing – 23h 16m 35s
3. P. Sireyjol (FRA)/F.-X. Begun (BEL) SMG – 24h 02m 32s
4. Y. Al-Helli (UAE)/K. Al-Kendi (UAE) Nissan – 25h 23m 02s
5. I. Kusnetsov (RUS)/R. Elagin (RUS) BMW X3 CC – 26h 34m 17s
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10. S. Schott (DEU)/H. Schmidt (DEU) BMW X3 CC – 44h 11m 06s
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