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#304 Mini John Cooper Works Buggy: Stephane Peterhansel / David Castera



X-Raid Mini JCW Team

Cars class: DNF, 2 stage wins

This was clearly not shaping up to be one of 'Mr. Dakar's' best-ever outings in his favoured marathon even before a penultimate-day crash injured new co-driver David Castera and thus brought on Peterhansel's first retirement in a decade.

But following his previous outings with the refined Peugeot cars, the new-ish Mini buggy is clearly much more of a work in progress, and it was Peterhansel who delivered the most convincing proof of concept for X-raid's latest creation.

He made a bigger impression than either Carlos Sainz and Cyril Despres, and event kept Al-Attiyah within reach during the opening week before errors allowed the Qatari to build an unassailable advantage. Valentin Khorounzhiy

Previous top 10 record - 2016 (P2), 2017 (P2), 2018 (P8)