Breaking news

Dakar

X-Raid Mini confirms Sainz, Peterhansel, Despres for Dakar 2019

X-raid Mini has announced the signing of ex-Peugeot trio Stephane Peterhansel, Carlos Sainz Sr and Cyril Despres for its Dakar Rally programme.

Matt Beer

Edited: Oct 2, 2018, 7:54 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Carlos Sainz, Stephane Peterhansel, Cyril Despres, MINI X-Raid

As predicted by Motorsport.com, the trio and nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb had formed Peugeot's factory cross-country rallying line-up before it withdrew from the discipline following the 2018 Dakar.

X-raid won four straight Dakars with its Minis from 2012-15, two of them with Peterhansel, before Peugeot began its dominant run.

Sven Quandt's team has carried out substantial development work on the Buggy version of the Mini in preparation for next year's Dakar, and the modified car will make its debut on the Rally of Morrocco with Sainz and Despres this week.

"This trio is obviously a dream cast, which also brings with it a wealth of experience," said Quandt.

"Carlos has given us a lot of support during the development of our Mini and has taken us forward in this regard – particularly in terms of the set-up.

"Stephane is an old friend and I am delighted to have him back in the team.

"Cyril has also shown what he is capable of in recent years, and I am intrigued to see how he puts his ability into practice with us. In any case, he already has plenty of kilometres under his belt in our car.

"Our Mini has satisfactorily completed a lot of test kilometres in recent months and we are very excited about its first competitive outing."

Peterhansel, who has won the Dakar a record 13 times across the bike and car categories, called the Mini Buggy "great fun and easy to drive" and believes it has already taken "a big step forward" in its development programme this year - particularly with weight reduction.

Double WRC champion Sainz won the Dakar this year with Peugeot to add to his 2010 success with Volkswagen.

The 56-year-old had tried Toyota's Ovedrive-run Dakar contender as well as the Mini Buggy before committing to X-raid.

"A new team, a new car, and with them a new challenge," he said.

"I am very optimistic that we will master this challenge. We are well prepared."I love the challenge of working with, developing and getting the best out of a new car. That is always exciting."

MINI John Cooper Works Buggy Red Bull

Photo by: X-raid

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Peugeot refugee Sainz joins X-raid Mini for 2019 Dakar Rally

Next article Loeb to return to Dakar as privateer in 2019

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Jorge Martin: “I don’t feel I will struggle anymore” in MotoGP title run-in

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Indonesian GP

1 h

Jorge Martin: “I don’t feel I will struggle anymore” in MotoGP title run-in

"Extremely difficult": Calendar clashes threaten Marco Wittmann's DTM future

DTM

DTM DTM 1 h

"Extremely difficult": Calendar clashes threaten Marco Wittmann's DTM future

Christian Horner's inside story of how Red Bull built its own F1 engine

Formula 1

Christian Horner's inside story of how Red Bull built its own F1 engine

Exclusive video: Christian Horner interview on his Red Bull exit, Mercedes rivalry and more

Formula 1

Exclusive video: Christian Horner interview on his Red Bull exit, Mercedes rivalry and more

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts