· Ruta 40 as very good Dakar preparation
Orlando ‘Orly’ Terranova and Bernardo ‘Ronnie’ Graue crossed the finish podium in Tucuman in their MINI ALL4 Racing as winners of the event. The two Argentineans prevailed in each of the five special stages and in the prologue. The Desafío Ruta 40 Norte took the field – according to the road’s name – across the northern part of Argentina’s national route 40 that is located in the western part of the country, from San Juan to Tucuman.
The competitors had to cope with the most different kinds of terrains, for example with the famous dunes of Fiambala. But the teams also had to demonstrate their skills on rocky roads, in the heights and at temperatures between 0° and 30° Celsius. Furthermore, a demanding navigation turned the rally into a true challenge. The one-week event proved to be a very good preparation for the season finale – the Dakar Rally.
Terranova and Graue took the lead right away and defended it throughout the event. After their win in the prologue, they also won all the other stages without having to cope with any major problems. “The rally was more difficult than expected,” Terranova reveals. “85 percent of the route was off-road terrain and tackling it was anything but easy. Furthermore, we crossed several dunes that represented virgin soil for us. At the same time, Ronnie and I used the opportunity to improve our collaboration in the car. The rally was a great preparation for the Dakar. X-raid and the MINI worked perfectly on all the six days.”
The next rally that will be contested by Team X-raid will be the ‘Rallye du Maroc’ in early October.
Result Desafío Ruta 40 Norte
1st O. Terranova (ARG) / B. Graue (ARG) MINI ALL4 Racing – 19h 52m 25s
2nd J. Garcia (ARG) / R. Torlaschi (ARG) Chevrolet – 24h 28m 55s
3rd B. Zapag Benitez (PRY) / R. Posse (ARG) Toyota – 34h 22m 40s
4th M. Maldonado (ARG) / S. Scholz (ARG) Prototipo – 34h 57m 07s
5th O. Gandara (ARG) / L. Martinez (BOL) Toyota – 62h 06m 58s
