Round six of the 2015 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup, Baja Aragón (24-26th July), saw yet another demolition act by MINI and its MINI ALL4 Racing crews. At race end, the top three positions were filled by MINI ALL4 Racing.
“It is quite nice this victory,” said Roma at race end. “It’s not easy to open the route every day. Yesterday was really hard to start the route because of the threat of punctures – you could see the flying stones in the mirrors. Today I started maybe a little slowly from thinking about the stones and the brakes, you know? I wanted to finish at maximum. It was good to work with Alex. And the MINI ALL4 Racing was good, very good.”
The Argentinian duo of Orlando Terranova and Bernardo Graue in MINI ALL4 Racing #209 relied on each other’s skills to ensure a determined and rewarding second place overall at the finishing line. With a smile on his face, Terranova had this to say about Baja Aragón: “It was a very fun race despite the punctures. The good thing was the pace was very good and it was nice to fight with Nani and Mikko. The race was also physically hard because the pace was so incredibly fast.”
Fans of former WRC driver Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) and his ever popular French co-pilot Michel Perin will not be surprised at today’s third place result, despite Baja Aragón being Hirvonen’s first competitive drive in a MINI ALL4 Racing. “I’m happy that we finished… and managed to get to the podium. Such long stages without pace notes means there are lots of new things to learn – and small things kind of matter. With a little luck we could have made second, but it wasn’t to be. I have to say the ‘boys’ are not driving slowly. I was a bit surprised at how quick they drive without pace notes!”
Dutch duo Erik Van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar drove a solid race across some of the harshest, hard-packed and stone-laden terrain to claim a creditable sixth place. Harry Hunt (GBR) and Xavier Panseri (FRA) didn’t get off to the greatest of starts and were playing catch up with the leading MINI ALL4 Racing crews throughout the duration of the race. Final placing was given as 13th.
Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) and Mathieu Baumel (FRA) suffered the worst of all the MINI ALL4 Racing crews. After success in the opening Special Stage on Friday evening, the stony conditions then dealt a cruel hand during Stage 2 in the shape of punctures that used up the onboard spare tyres supply. This meant his support team had to assist. The penalty for this unfortunate but necessary action woud have been too high for Al-Attiyah to continue in the race.
The result sees MINI with its MINI ALL4 Racing retain top spot within the 2015 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup.