Re : Carlos Sainz and Mini win 2020 Dakar Rally

Re : Carlos Sainz and Mini win 2020 Dakar Rally

Friday 17th January 2020

Carlos Sainz and Mini win 2020 Dakar Rally

57-year-old Mini driver adds third Dakar title to his tally, which includes two WRC titles



Carlos Sainz has won the 2020 Dakar Rally with his Mini John Cooper Works Buggy, beating 2019 winner Nasser Al-Attiyah in his Toyota Hilux Dakar by 6 minutes 21 secs after 7,500 kilometres of Saudi Arabian desert. It gives Sainz and co-driver Lucas Cruz their third Dakar win and the first for the John Cooper Works Buggy on its third attempt. Mini teammate and 13-time Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel and co-driver Paulo Fiuza took bronze, while Fernando Alonso also fared well on his Dakar debut by finishing 13th overall.

Those with sufficiently long memories will recall that Sainz won the World Rally Championship way back in 1990 and 1992. But the 57-year-old has defied middle-age by triumphing at Dakar, adding to his Dakar wins in 2010 and 2018 with a commanding 2020 victory. He took four stage wins during the event in the 350hp diesel-powered Mini, lending him a 10-minute buffer to Al-Attiyah at the final leg. The lead only shrank due to a conservative drive to the finish.


Although Toyota Gazoo didn't nab gold, its cars did make up four of the top seven finishers. Alonso, also driving for Toyota, impressed in his rookie event by finishing fourth in the final stage. The two-time Formula 1 champ almost took himself out of the running with a roll on stage 10 of 12, but salvaged a strong debut result with an otherwise consistent few days in the wilderness. America's Ricky Brabec won the bike class of the 2020 event, which was the first to take place in Saudi Arabia.

While this year's rally mostly featured machinery that had contested previous events, the truck class did feature the first hybrid-powered entrant. The Renault Trucks machine finished a lowly 20th in class, although the fact it completed the notoriously savage course is probably the most significant takeaway from its debut.


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Author
Discussion

VanquishRider

Original Poster:

496 posts

151 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
Is there a single component from a current Mini in that car? Just why call it a Mini?

Great achievement by the way.

RPastry

357 posts

189 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
'57-year-old Mini driver'

according to IMDB she's only 49...

getmecoat

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
RPastry said:
'57-year-old Mini driver'

according to IMDB she's only 49...

getmecoat
laugh

blueST

4,380 posts

215 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
VanquishRider said:
Is there a single component from a current Mini in that car? Just why call it a Mini?

Great achievement by the way.
Same reason theres an F1 car with a Merc badge, and an LMP1 car with a Toyota badge or any other works team in non-production car racing.

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
That old fella, he can drive a bit.

Mafffew

2,149 posts

110 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
VanquishRider said:
Is there a single component from a current Mini in that car? Just why call it a Mini?

Great achievement by the way.
Bit of an odd question.

It is made by Mini, so they can call it a Mini...They could also call it something else, but they chose not to, because of branding and stuff.

HorneyMX5

5,308 posts

149 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
Sainz is an actual legend, what a career!

Fittster

20,120 posts

212 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
Dakar is in Senegal, they seem to be in the wrong place.

Andy83n

355 posts

61 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
Marginally closer than Argentina

Arsecati

2,286 posts

116 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
Fittster said:
Dakar is in Senegal, they seem to be in the wrong place.
It WAS in Senegal, but the Saudis bought it and shipped it back to their own country. That's a fact.

cuprabob

14,421 posts

213 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
Dave Hedgehog said:
RPastry said:
'57-year-old Mini driver'

according to IMDB she's only 49...

getmecoat
laugh
Have another rofllaugh

blue al

923 posts

158 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
blue al said:
I have a diesel mini F56 SD

Superchips and Lohen will map it past 500nm, (same ball park as Bmw's 140i or Audi TTS) you need twist to climb those dunes ;0)

I have had occasion to drive it off road, the lineage is oblivious





Edited by blue al on Friday 17th January 18:46

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
blue al said:
blue al said:
I have a diesel mini F56 SD

Superchips and Lohen will map it past 500nm, (same ball park as Bmw's 140i or Audi TTS) you need twist to climb those dunes ;0)

I have had occasion to drive it off road, the lineage is oblivious





Edited by blue al on Friday 17th January 18:46
laugh Sure.

BIRMA

3,803 posts

193 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
Good on him, I was a big Paris-Dakar fan back in the days when the cars at least looked like cars you could buy.
I bought a Pajero Evolution that wasn't a million miles from the cars competing in certain categories. Still I guess f***king great big trucks ploughing through small settlements was bound to lead to problems.




rallycross

12,747 posts

236 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
King Carlos what a legend, fantastic driver and great guy, an amazing result on such a tough event.

DeltonaS

3,707 posts

137 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Arsecati said:
Fittster said:
Dakar is in Senegal, they seem to be in the wrong place.
It WAS in Senegal, but the Saudis bought it and shipped it back to their own country. That's a fact.
Nothing to do with the Saudi's.

The Dakar Rallye moved to South America many years ago due to the unstable political environment in North- and Central Africa.

The many conflicts accross the continent, the civil wars, the kidnappings, the militia, made it impossible to continue the Dakar rallye as it was always held with Dakar being the finish destination.

Must say when it comes to nature, Saudi Arabia is a stunning place.

DeltonaS

3,707 posts

137 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
Mafffew said:
VanquishRider said:
Is there a single component from a current Mini in that car? Just why call it a Mini?

Great achievement by the way.
Bit of an odd question.

It is made by Mini, so they can call it a Mini...They could also call it something else, but they chose not to, because of branding and stuff.
It's a BMW thing, the X-Raid team started with BMW's (first gen.X5 body). One of the owners and uberlords at BMW (Quandt) participated a couple of years ago as well.

Later on, for marketing reasons probably, they switched to Mini. First witth a Countryman body under the 4x4 regulations. Currently the Mini is a 2wd buggy but still with a BMW 6 cyl. turbodiesel.

Edited by DeltonaS on Saturday 18th January 00:31

TheDrBrian

5,444 posts

221 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
blueST said:
VanquishRider said:
Is there a single component from a current Mini in that car? Just why call it a Mini?

Great achievement by the way.
Same reason theres an F1 car with a Merc badge, and an LMP1 car with a Toyota badge or any other works team in non-production car racing.
I must have missed the AMG A180d entry in this years F1

AngryPartsBloke

1,436 posts

150 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
DeltonaS said:
It's a BMW thing, the X-Raid team started with BMW's (first gen.X5 body). One of the owners and uberlords at BMW (Quandt) participated a couple of years ago as well.

Later on, for marketing reasons probably, they switched to Mini. First witth a Countryman body under the 4x4 regulations. Currently the Mini is a 2wd buggy but still with a BMW 6 cyl. turbodiesel.

Edited by DeltonaS on Saturday 18th January 00:31
Both the buggy and the countryman compete in the Dakar as well as the wonderfully verbose FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas

ArnageWRC

2,050 posts

158 months

Saturday 18th January 2020
quotequote all
rallycross said:
King Carlos what a legend, fantastic driver and great guy, an amazing result on such a tough event.
Absolutely!! El Matador...what a career. There aren't many F1 drivers who have a father who is a bigger name/ legend than themselves.

And a useless fact; Carlos is one of the longest serving RedBull athletes....since the mid/late 90's.