Team.

The main key to surviving the Rally Dakar challenge is to have many years of experience at probably the best-known rally in the world under your belt. You need more than just speed on the stages. You also have to use your head: when should you put your foot down and when would you be better off reining in the speed a bit? Only those who find the right mixture over the course of the 8000 kilometres from Argentina, through Chile, to Peru will make it to the finish. Five MINI All4 Racing cars, each with an experienced crew on board, lined up for the X-raid team.

The 2012 team:

Stéphane Peterhansel / Jean-Paul Cottret

* Stéphane Peterhansel /FRA (born 6th Aug. 1965): 10-time Rally Dakar winner, six of which came on a motorbike.

* Jean-Paul Cottret /FRA (born 19th Jun. 1963): 4-time Rally Dakar winner. Long-term co-driver for Peterhansel.

* Joan "Nani" Roma /ESP (born 17th Feb. 1972): Won the Rally Dakar on a motorbike in 2004. Finished second in 2012. Been racing on four wheels since 2005.

* Michel Perin /FRA (born 19th Jan. 1957): Triple Rally Dakar winner. Multiple winner of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies.

* Leonid Novitskiy /RUS (born 1st Jul. 1968): Many years of experience in off-road sport. 2010 and 2011 winner of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies.

* Andi Schulz /GER (born 3rd Mar. 1955): Double Rally Dakar winner, including victory with Jutta Kleinschmidt. Co-driver for Leonid Novitskiy since 2009. 2010 and 2011 winner of the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies.

* Ricardo Leal dos Santos /POR (born 20th Jul. 1972): Regarded as one of the best independent drivers at the Rally Dakar, before switching to the X-raid team. Started his career on quad bikes.

* Paulo Fiuza /POR (born 19th Apr. 1975): Started his career as a co-driver in off-road sport in 2011.

* Krzysztof Holowczyc /POL (born 4th Jun. 1962): Racing in his seventh Rally Dakar in 2012. Finished fifth in 2011. Won the European Rally Championship in 1997. Polish Rally Champion in 1995, 1996 and 1999. Won the Silk Way Rally in 2011.

* Jean-Marc Fortin /BEL (born 4th Jul. 1968): Can call on many years of experience as a co-driver in off-road rallying.

All about the WRC

FIA WRC.

2011 sees the MINI WRC Team make its debut in the FIA World Rally Championship, the sport’s premier division.

All about the WRC

The lowdown on MINI Stars

MINI Stars.

The MINI Motorsport family is large and embraces the whole world. Find out more about the MINI Stars worldwide.

To MINI Stars

Motorsport meets Lifestyle.

MINI Challenge combines real racing with a go-kart feel and MINI lifestyle.

The MINI Challenge

MINI CHALLENGE.

Be Part of it!

"Start your engines" and be inspired by the MINI Challenge. This clubsport series combines real racing with a go-kart feel and MINI lifestyle. Since 2004, talented drivers have been going head to head in this fascinating mixture of motor racing and lifestyle events at challenging race tracks around the world.

The MINI Challenge

Success after success.

With victories at the Monte Carlo Rally in the 1960s, the legend of MINI in motorsport was born.

MINI Heritage.

MINI has motorsport in its genes. While Alec Issigonis, credited with creating the classic Mini, concentrated primarily on the every-day suitability of the car, his friend and business partner John Cooper immediately sensed potential of a different kind when he first saw the initial sketches: in this novel small production car the successful racing car constructor recognised the basis for a promising sporty vehicle, and zealously set about converting the Mini…