• Monster Energy X-raid travels to South America for two rallies
• Stéphane Peterhansel to contest the Baja Spain and the Rally dos Sertões
Following the long rally break, the Monster Energy X-raid Team will have to cope with a busy schedule, in the coming weeks. The second half of the season will begin with the Baja Spain (3rd FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup round), from 20th to 22nd July, 2012. At the same time, a part of Team X-raid will travel to Argentina for the Desafio Litoral, a new event on the Dakar-Series calendar that will be held from 23rd to 29th July. And just a few weeks later, from 20th to 29th August, the Trebur based team will contest another event held on the South American continent: the Rally dos Sertões in Brazil.
For the French MINI ALL4 Racing pairing Stéphane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret, the Baja Spain will be the first rally they are going to contest after having celebrated their Dakar win in January. The third World Cup round also will be contested by Dubai’s Khalifa Al Mutaiwei and his German co-driver Andreas Schulz in their MINI ALL4 Racing. Al Mutaiwei currently holds second position in the World Cup standings and is determined to increase the pressure on the current World Cup leader, Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser.
While Peterhansel and Al Mutaiwei will fight for points and positions in Spain, three other pairings will travel to South America to contest the Desafio Litoral. Spain’s Nani Roma and his French co-driver Michael Perin will race a MINI ALL4 Racing. Argentina’s Orlando Terranova will contest his home event with a BMW X3 CC – and the same applies to Chilean Boris Garafulic who will be accompanied by his French co-driver Gilles Picard.
Following the Desafio Litoral, the vehicles will stay in South America as the Rally dos Sertões held in Brazil will start just three weeks later. There, Stéphane Peterhansel again will race his MINI ALL4 Racing. Meanwhile, Brazilian Ximenes Riamburgo will make his debut as Team X-raid driver. He and his Portuguese co-driver Filipe Palmeiro will race the event with a BMW X3 CC. And while these three teams will battle it out with the competition in Brazil, MINI ALL4 Racing driver Khalifa Al Mutaiwei will try to add more points to his FIA World Cup tally in the Baja Hungary (24th to 26th August).
