-Alvarez runner-up
The Desafío Ruta 40 is one of the most difficult rallies of the whole season and pushes every competitor to the limits. The five-day event was also for the two MINI ALL4 Racing crews Orlando Terranova/ Bernardo Ronnie Graue and Lucio Alvarez / Sebastian Halpern (all ARG) a huge challenge. But both managed to stay ahead of everybody in front of their home-crowd: Terranova and Graue finished first, Alvarez and Halpern in second position. The MINI ALL4 Racing reached three out of five possible stage wins - in the first two stages Terranova was the fastest, while Alvarez secured the last stage win.
The rally was a real challenge for all pilots. A difficult navigation which almost cost Terranova the victory on day four and different terrains, WRC-like rally stages, water-crossings, sand and dunes were the challenges the competitors had to cope with. In the dunes Terranova and Alvarez lost some time because both got stucked.
"Even with driving this rally for the second time, I was suprised how hard this race is" Terranova said. "This makes the victory even more sweet. The route was very difficult and challenged Ronnie a lot. This was a good preparation for the Dakar."
