• Orlando Terranova wins penultimate stage
• Vladimir Vasilyev finishes second
The MINI ALL4 Racing is virtually unstoppable, in the 2015 Dakar. Today, in the 12th stage – to Rosario – the Argentineans Orlando Terranova and Bernardo ‘Ronnie’ Graue, racing for the Monster Energy Rally Raid Team, celebrated their third stage win – and the 11th of the MINI ALL4 Racing at the same time!
Vladimir Vasilyev and Konstantin Zhiltsov also once again secured a top result by finishing runner-up, today. In the overall standings, they gained another position and hold fifth, now. This means that four of the five top five positions are held by the MINI ALL4 Racing!
Terranova already tried to win the previous two stages on his home soil and today, after two second places, he finally did it. “The route was really nice,” said the Argentinean. “During the course of the special stage we closed in on Nasser but then, we lost time in his dust. Trying to pass him would have been just too dangerous. Later, however, I could push again and secure the win.”
Meanwhile, Vasilyev and Zhiltsov seemed to be on the way to securing their second stage win for a long time but were passed by Terranova during the final kilometres. “Today’s route definitely was more interesting and more difficult than yesterday’s although it once again resembled a WRC stage,” said Zhiltsov. “Today we pushed to a certain extent to try to work our way further up. Tomorrow we want to push again as we think that the other’s will do the same. Although you actually don’t do so, on the final day.”
The overall leaders, the Qatar Rally Team represented by Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) and Mathieu Baumel (FRA), finished fourth today and extended their lead with this result. Now, the driver from Qatar just has to survive tomorrow’s final stage to secure his second Dakar win. “Today it was only about contesting and finishing the stage,” said Al-Attiyah. “For us, the special stage seemed to be really, really long. The route wasn’t easy – partially extremely narrow and rocky. I tried to drive fast enough to not lose my concentration. And that’s the approach will also want to opt for tomorrow.”
Poland’s Krzysztof Holowczyc and his French co-driver Xavier Panseri, also representing the Monster Energy Rally Raid Team colours, came eighth, thus consolidating their third place in the overall standings. Aidyn Rakhimbayev (KAZ) and Anton Nikolaev (RUS) once again made it to the top 10 by finishing 10th and in addition, they hold the safe ninth place in the overall standings. “This was fun and we were really fast,” said co-driver Nikolaev. “We went off the track several times but didn’t lose much time.”
The two Dutchman Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar finished 14th today, nine minutes behind the winners, and still hold fourth place in the overall standings. Right behind them, Boris Garafulic (CHI) and Filipe Palmeiro (POR) came 15th, thus defending their 12th position in the overall standings. 13th position still is held by China’s Zhou Yong who finished 19th with his German navigator Andreas Schulz, today. German pairing Stephan Schott / Holm Schmidt finished 25th, in stage 12, and are 22nd in the overall standings.
Tomorrow, the competitors will contest the final stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally, taking them back to Buenos Aires. The day begins with a 77-kilometre liaison section, followed by 174 special-stage kilometres. And over the course of the last 142 kilometres of this year’s Dakar, the winner already may look forward to the podium in the Tecnopolis / Buenos Aires.
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