- Three of the four special stages won by the Frenchman
For the Monster Energy X-raid Team and its French pairing Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret, the Rally dos Sertões is running absolutely as planned. The reigning Dakar winners won three special stages with their MINI ALL4 Racing and consequently hold the overall lead. But there still are another six days to go, in the 2013 Dos Sertões.
The pairing finished second in the prologue but afterwards, they proved to be virtually unstoppable. The following stages were multifaceted and represented an ultimate test for the skills of both the competitors and their vehicles. Day two, for instance, featured an 84-kilometre special stage across riverbeds, sand and red dust. The third stage with its 287 special-stage kilometres was particularly challenging: following the sandy first stage, the teams now had to cope with hard terrain and rocks. On Sunday, however, the drivers could go flat out, after a technically demanding first part. Peterhansel und his MINI ALL4 Racing successfully mastered all the challenges and now hold a lead of nearly half an hour.
Result stage 4:
1st S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing - 2h 28m 45s
2nd J. Cardoso (POR) / S. Broering (BRA) Evoque Proto Series - 2h 34m 01s
3rd J. Franciosi (BRA) / R. Capoani (BRA) Mitsubishi - 2h 34m 36s
4th C. Baumgart (BRA) / B. Andreotti (BRA) Mitsubishi - 2h 36m 35s
5th L. Moraes (BRA) / W. Moreira (BRA) Sherpa - 2h 37m 03s ...
Overall standings after stage 4:
1st S. Peterhansel (FRA) / J.-P. Cottret (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 7h 10m 50s
2nd K. Kolberg (BRA) / F. Franca (BRA) MEM T-Rex – 7h 42m 57s
3rd J. Cardoso (POR) / S. Broering (BRA) Evoque Proto Series - 7h 47m 30s
4th S. Barros Netto (BRA) / E. Bampi (BRA) Mitsubishi – 8h 00m 02s
5th L. Moraes (BRA) / W. Moreira (BRA) Sherpa - 8h 00m 48s
