Dakar 2014 - On 4 wheels (autos & SXS)

I am pissed that the car race was fixed by the Mini team. Peterhansel waited for Roma and Al-Attayah in the special stage because he was ordered to by the team manager. BULLSHIT~!!! I feel cheated. Peterhansel should have won regardless of the team he was racing for. It all seems fixed now and politics has intruded too far.

""""Stéphane Peterhansel has stopped at km 133 to wait for the other drivers on the provisional podium, future winner Nani Roma and future third-placed driver Nasser Al-Attiyah. The three Minis will cross the finish line together in this order. The three cars got underway again mirroring the general classification.""""

If they're all on the same team, why do they care who wins?

Exactly... except this year WOULD have been the big 12 for Peterhansel... and he was legitimately winning before the politics got involved. I honestly think that there should be a rule disallowing this sort of team interference. Just like the bikes being dominated by KTM a few years ago, now the cars are dominated by Mini... so maybe something should be done.

In my opinion, this race should be about the pilot, navigator, and mechanics... not about corporations controlling their pawns.

Makes no sense. Mini would get tons of exposure out of Peterhansels 12th win.

I wonder if Peterhansel still gets a win bonus?

This is exactly why corporate bosses should keep the f#ck out of a race.

X-Raid... they came, they saw... they kicked ASS!
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great ride by Despres. Great to see Mike Johnson in too.

Now for the Mini Parade.

I'm out of here till the trucks.
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Winner 3 years in a row.

1 2 & 3 on the podium.

8 cars in the top 10

all 11 cars that started finish (inside top 30) 100% finishing rate.

I'd say that's pretty much a white wash by the girl's cars that all the SPEED humpers were saying would get spanked beforehand, cause they lap up the caffienated US hype.

And now the sourgrapes cause the boss made sure his investment did what it was designed to...?

Sure, they did a hamfisted job of handling the PR and release around determining/announcing the team orders these last day's (they should have just clammed up and said nothing)... but it is NO different to the form finishes which VW or Mitsu have done in recent years, and EVERY bit as impressive (from the team performance perspective) as the VW efforts.

It is history now that Roma, Peterhansel and Al Attiyah take the flag in that order, and that they have - it is a great achievement for the X-Raid team.

All cars finished... 80% of the top 10, almost 50% of the top 20 auto's and just over 30% of the top 30 auto finishers... WERE MINI's :eek1:eek1:eek1

OWNED IT!!!
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All praise for MINI aside, they still let teamorders destroy the race the last few days.

Another fake winner in a fake race.

So Nani gets the win and that is great for him, but it will always be overshadowed by the team orders...
Nani is a guy who has been at this for a looooong time it was good to see his performance this year and to be honest
a lot of people totally overlooked him me included. It is easy to do this with likes of Peterhansel on his team...

His performance was a bit of a surprise. A lot more consistent then in previous years. But all that wont mean much to any fans considering the fiasco of the team orders.
It is easy for us to say they should have let them race etc but the team boss did what he should have to ensure a podium sweep by his team. Way too much at stake for the team and with Peter playing his cards it is not that much of a surprise... this is how it always was at dakar... not that it should be though.

I would have loved to see Nani and Peter slug it out over the last few stages, but that was not going to happen, and Roma was probably going to choke anyways.

All the hate for minis is there, but one thing is for sure... they are a well prepared and properly developed raid-car, on a team whose performance is as of yet unmatched. My hats off to them for running such an amazing and succesfull program. Even other car makers are buying their technology to make themselves look good (Great Wall)

With all my hopes for the Toyota it was very clear that they are simply outgunned in the numbers and drivers departments. They simply don't have the (budget) numbers to take it to the minis.
Giniel is an amazing driver but he simply has no help, and the pro-drive cars don't have the speed or the drivers to put pressure on the front. Their car seems to be lacking a bit on the top end and perhaps the rules will help them a bit next year but I am not sure if they have the necessary clout to facilitate that kind of change (ie. larger restrictor). But this team will need a lot more cannon fodder to make an impact if the xraid team stays as strong as it is now.


And what about the Fords? Can they develop their program far enough to make an impact?
Will any of the 4x4 survive the onslaught of buggies that are to appear next year?


Many many disappointments in the car category for me this year. So many lack-luster, last minute efforts that provided hope for a slug fest at the front, but failed for a variety of reasons, which made the front of the car race a the somewhat lame mini washout and the team orders just soured that some more.


And the trucks? What a year for the trucks!
Shame it came to a bitter end for now but we shall see.

btw I would drive the countryman anytime... it is a great car and handles awesome in the snow. but I won't buy one

I agree makes me think Robby Gordon was getting bunk gas. They don't like us cowboys until they are invaded by a third word nation.



http://www.yachtingworld.com/blogs/elaine-bunting/530545/the-strange-story-of-the-jules-verne-trophy

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Thread gone to the basement in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

Wasn't the car on it's side the trucks were trying to squeeze around a MINI too? - I presume it was eventually righted and those guys did finish?

I'm not trying to contradict, just get clarification that those guys made it to the end too!

Jx

I agree... although as Troy says, Peterhansel is a 'professional' through and through, and has been in this game long enough to know when to play politics and when to say "f*ck 'em"...

I would not be surprised that the real reason he was not allowed to claim his '12th' will all come out, once his new deal is signed and sealed with Peugeot.

It does seem to me that MINI missed a MASSIVE PR coup with that though... that said, it's not as if MINI currently make a big deal out of their Dakar successes in their general advertising and marketing?

Jx

Robby said it wasn't a fuel issue. They broke the intake and sucked dirt for how long nobody knows, but the dirt trashed the engine. No conspiracy involved, just a broken car.

The Mini is still a GIRLS car !!!!!!!!!

Next year the regular uncle Joe will say " Dakar? Isn't that a perfume?" or "Isn't that the race Robby always kicks ass at?"

People who pay attention to Dakar will still remember the way it played out.
However I would like to think that those people know this is also part of running a big team
in this race and that there is a long history of exactly this kind of thing so it is really to be expected even though a lot of us have a problem with the sporting aspect of this. Sven didn't do anything out of the ordinary they just bodged the public relations part of it and put a few racers in rather awkward positions and this in turn left a few of them rather sour.

As TSC said above team orders have played a part of the Dakar podium since the
introduction of factory teams and that is all there is to it.

History books will still say Nani won, and there is nothing that will change that.
But in the place like this there will always be that "*but he won on team orders...."
and this will also always play a part on his conscience.

Seb Vettel could learn a thing or 2 from Stef Peterhansel!!

That might be your opinion but if you ever stood beside the BMW bivouac you would change that opinion very quickly.

Some one asked me about half way through 2012 Dakar what I thought? My answer was 'it is a circus with a whole lot of clowns with too much money!'

It is absolutely staggering beyond believe the money people and infrastructure that the BMW Mini team had and it would have been even bigger this year. I also saw the VW team in 2008 when it was cancelled at the start and that was again indescribable!

It makes F1 look like a weekend picnic.

It is a MASSIVE injection of corporations funds and subsequently they have every right to say how it goes.....unfortunately. But that also is what makes the race what it is.

Cheers
Pilbara

PS there was on of those massive MAN 6 wheel trucks fully kitted with racing suspension and everything and it was just for the Shock Absorbers for the minis, that was it....then there was another and another and another....and another for wheels and it went on and on and on, 50 people on the team, 3 chefs, 5 masseurs etc etc etc. You simply cannot understand from the TV or even F5 the enormity of this event unless you are standing right there and even then it just does not sink in. Your eyes are not big enough!

I agree - I really don't understand why 'the word' even came out about team orders this year? - I guess Peterhansel was properly pissed at them [denying him his 12th win] and spilt the beans...

Most years it would just that one of them 'had a problem' for a few minutes to restore the desired order...

This year it was a PR disaster.

Jx