- Third, fourth and fifth place for the MINI JCW Rally
- The marathon stage is taking place tomorrow and the day after
The third stage from Marcona to Arequipa was a successful one for the MINI John Cooper Works Rally crews. Jakub Kuba Przygonski (POL) and Tom Colsoul (BEL) claimed a very good third place. Behind them, Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA) / Timo Gottschalk (GER) and Joan Nani Roma / Alex Haro (both ESP) from the X-raid MINI John Cooper Works Rally Team crossed the line in fourth and fifth positions. Stéphane Peterhansel and David Castera from the X-raid MINI John Cooper Works Buggy team claimed victory in today’s third stage. Boris Garafulic (CHI) and Filipe Palmeiro (POR) completed the stage in 14th place after some problems, a result that sees them in 13th position overall.
Przygonski and Colsoul continued to put on a very good performance, starting from 13th place and working their way up from waypoint to waypoint. They quickly reached third position and defended this until the finish. “We had a good stage without major problems and errors,” explains Przygonski. “We were sorry about what happened to Carlos, but if he hadn’t been where he was, then we would have driven into that invisible hole. We had a flat tire later but the performance was spot on”. Przygonski and Colsoul are in fifth place overall.
Al-Rajhi and Gottschalk are also performing very well in these early days of the Dakar 2019. They secured fourth place today, which helped them move up to second position in the overall standings. “It went well for us but there were two moments where we lost some time,” reports the Saudi driver. “We had a bad flat tire and then we caught a big rock with the front of the car.”
It was a tough day for Roma and Haro. They were due to start from second place but had to open the stage after Sebastian Loeb had a problem. “That was a very hard stage,” says Roma, who is now in fourth place in the overall standings. “It was virtually all dunes in the early part of the stage – not a good day to be starting first. Navigation was very difficult, we had to search for two waypoints and lost some time. The roadbook was not entirely clear at some points. We had a flat tire in the dunes. I hit a stone when trying to overtake a motorcyclist. If you take all of that into account, we can be very pleased with our result.”
After the special stage, the crews still had to spend a few hours on the connecting stage to Arequipa. Today, the mechanics and engineers must prepare the cars for the next two days. The marathon stage is scheduled for tomorrow evening and the drivers and co-drivers will have to do without the support of their teams.
Rally Dakar – Result SS3
- Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) / David Castera (FRA) MINI JCW Buggy – 3h 54m 31s
2. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Mathieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota – 3h 57m 57s
3. Kuba Przygonski (POL) / Tom Colsoul (BEL) MINI JCW Rally – 4h 06m 18s
4. Nani Roma (ESP) / Alex Haro (ESP) MINI JCW Rally – 4h 07m 21s
5. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU) / Timo Gottschalk (GER) MINI JCW Rally – 4h 12m 43s
6. Cyril Despres (FRA) / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA) MINI JCW Buggy – 4h 22m 35s
7. Bernhard Ten Brinke (NLD) / Xavier Panseri (FRA) Toyota – 4h 26m 16s
8. Aron Domzala (POL) / Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota – 4h 27m 47s
9. Martin Prokop (CZE) / Jan Tomanek (POL) Ford – 4h 29m 10s
10. Benediktas Vanagas (LTU) / Sebastian Rozwadowski (POL) Toyota – 4h 33m 55s
…
14. Boris Garafulic (CHL) / Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) MINI JCW Rally – 4h 46m 42s 
Rally Dakar – Overall result after SS3
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Mathieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota – 8h 34m 08s
2. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU) / Timo Gottschalk (GER) MINI JCW Rally – 8h 40m 56s
3. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) / David Castera (FRA) MINI JCW Buggy – 8h 41m 11s
4. Nani Roma (ESP) / Alex Haro (ESP) MINI JCW Rally – 8h 46m 10s
5. Kuba Przygonski (POL) / Tom Colsoul (BEL) MINI JCW Rally – 8h 47m 53s
6. Cyril Despres (FRA) / Jean-Paul Cottret (FRA) MINI JCW Buggy – 8h 58m 48s
7. Bernhard Ten Brinke (NLD) / Xavier Panseri (FRA) Toyota – 8h 59m 29s
8. Sebastien Loeb (FRA) / Daniel Elena (FRA) Peugeot – 9h 12m 07s
9. Aron Domzala (POL) / Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota – 9h 17m 04s
10. Benediktas Vanagas (LTU) / Sebastian Rozwadowski (POL) Toyota – 9h 23m 28s
…
13. Boris Garafulic (CHL) / Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) MINI JCW Rally – 9h 38m 27s
