Despite no longer taking place in Africa, the Dakar Rally now takes place in South America; tackling harsh terrain across Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. This tough off-road endurance race is well-known to be a great challenge even for those who had run it a few times. But it seems that experience and a well-equipped machine is the right formula to win this race as the mighty Mini now conquers the Dakar for four years in a row.
Piloting the Mini ALL4 Racing was Nasser Al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel, and this is also Nasser’s second win for the Dakar Rally after 2011, when he was driving a Volkswagen Touareg 3.
“I promised last year when I was on the podium that I’d be back to win, and now I’m here. It was very hard to lead the race from the very beginning and to continue keeping this position on the long distance because the race was really hard,” said Nasser after crossing the finish line at Buenos Aires.
“I’m very happy about this great result and I want to thank and congratulate all mechanics and the team for the great job they have done during the two weeks. The Mini ALL4 Racing is an incredible car and it was again very nice to drive,” he added.
In the overall standings, Mini secured four out of five top finishing spots and also won 11 out of 13 legs in the 2015 Dakar Rally.
“Our goal this year was to achieve another great overall team result and, with five Mini ALL4 Racing finishing the 2015 Dakar Rally in the top ten, nine reaching the finish line, eleven stage victories with four different drivers and Nasser winning the world’s toughest marathon rally, we have successfully met all our targets”, said Mini Senior Vice President Jochen Golle.
