The pressure on Sebastian Halpern and Bernardo ‘Ronnie’ Graue was enormous. After all, they wanted to impress their fans at the Desafío Ruta 40 in their home country. And they succeeded, finishing third. Halpern had not sat in the MINI JCW Rally Plus for about a year. The Desafío Ruta 40, the fourth and penultimate event of the FIA Rally-Raid Championship, began and ended in Córdoba. Other bivouacs were located in San Juan and La Rioja.
Halpern and Graue impressed with their consistency. Their rivals, on the other hand, repeatedly lost valuable minutes due to mistakes and problems. Halpern and Graue made a big leap forward on the fourth stage, finishing fourth to secure third place overall.
They were able to defend this position on the fifth and final stage back to Córdoba. Halpern and Graue secured third place on the podium at their home rally – behind Nasser Al-Attiyah and Yazeed Al-Rajhi.
The next event in the FIA Rally-Raid Championship is the Rally du Maroc in October.
Quotes from the drivers
Sebastian Halpern (MINI JCW Rally Plus):
‘We are very happy with the rally and our result. It went very well for me and the team. I haven’t competed in a rally for nine months and then a third place is really very good. The MINI ran perfectly. There were no problems at any time. Ronnie and I really enjoyed the rally.’
Overall standings
1. Y. Al-Rajhi / T. Gottschalk – Toyota – 17h 38m 21s
2. N. Al-Attiyah / E. Boulanger – Prodrive – 17h 39m 01s
3. S. Halpern / B. Graue – MINI JCW Rally Plus – 18h 24m 37s
4. D. Krotov / K. Zhiltsov – Toyota – 18h 40m 50s
5. L. Moraes / A. Monleon – Toyota – 18h 51m 24s
