• Five MINI ALL4 Racing vehicles hold top-10 positions
The Monster Energy X-raid Team and Team X-raid can look back on a very successful day. The two Monster Energy X-raid Team crews Nani Roma (ESP) / Michel Périn (FRA), and Orlando Terranova (ARG) / Moi Torrallardona (ESP) secured a one-two in both special stages of the day, with their MINI ALL4 Racing vehicles, thus also securing the top positions in the overall standings. The Dutch pairing Erik van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar completed the MINI ALL4 Racing success by making it to third position in the overall standings, with another two MINI ALL4 Racing pairings also holding top-10 positions, at the end of day two.
Following a trouble-free first special stage, Roma lost several minutes in the second. He went off the track and while driving off the road, his radiator was obstructed with grass. “I had to stop to get rid of the greens,” the Catalan said. “And in addition, I was hampered by the dust of Zheludov.” Nonetheless, he won the special stage with a 16-second lead over Terranova and consequently, he also holds the lead in the overall standings, with his Argentinean team-mate following in second position. “The second special stage was rather long,” revealed Terranova whose gap to the leader amounts to just 33 seconds, “And far more twisting than the morning special stage. But I’m happy with the course of the event so far. After all, anything still is possible.”
At the Team X-raid camp, Van Loon and Rosegaar get on better and better with the MINI ALL4 Racing. After having finished fourth in special stage one, they secured third place in the second. An even more impressive result as they had to cover the final three kilometres of the special stage with a punctured tyre. With these results, they also clinched third positions in the overall rankings. “In consideration of the fact that we had to start into the event as 11th I am extremely happy with our result,” said Van Loon. “We had to pass several opponents and often drove in the dust of the cars ahead of us. Tomorrow, things will be easier for us.” Russian pairing Vladimir Vasilyev / Konstantin Zhiltsov lost several minutes in special stage one due to a puncture but in the second, they encountered no problems whatsoever and set the fourth-fastest time. “The tracks here represent quite a challenge,” said Zhiltsov. “A lot of rocks and you have to drive extremely precisely. I hope that we will be able to gain some ground and add more points to our tally, tomorrow.” In the overall standings they currently hold fifth position, two minutes behind the fourth-placed team.
Young Poland Martin Kaczmarski and his new Finnish co-driver, Tapio Suominen, came ninth and seventh, in the two special stages. Nonetheless, Kaczmarski wasn’t completely happy with his achievements. “I want to make my way further up,” he said. “But the tracks are really demanding. Corner by corner and not even a second to take a breath. But I definitely will keep on going for it, tomorrow.” At the end of day two he holds seventh position – but just 12 seconds behind the sixth-placed pairing. Meanwhile, the Kazakh-Russian pairing Aidyn Rakhimbayev / Anton Nikolaev has not yet familiarised with the Baja Spain. They finished 22nd and 12th today and currently hold 14th position in the overall standings. Today morning they damaged their steering by hitting a stone. On the last day tomorrow there are two more stages to compete in. The routes are the same as today.
Overall standings after two stages:
1st N. Roma (ESP) / M. Périn (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 47m 12s
2nd O. Terranova (ARG) / M. Torrallardona (ESP) MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 47m 45s
3rd E. Van Loon (NDL) / W. Rosegaar (NDL) MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 53m 00s
4th A. Zheludov (RUS) / A. Rudnitski (RUS) Toyota – 4h 56m 08s
5th V. Vasilyev (RUS) / K. Zhiltsov (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 58m 08s
...
7th M. Kaczmarski (POL) / T. Suominen (FIN) MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 59m 23s
...
14th A. Rakhimbayev (KAZ) / A. Nikolaev (RUS) MINI ALL4 Racing - 5h 17m 43s
