Meanwhile, Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (QT/FR) defended their lead in the overall classification. They finished in fifth place and are still 5:18 minutes ahead of their closest opponents.
On leg three from San Juan (AR) to Chilecito (AR) the drivers crossed the Pampa de la Varita at the foot of the majestic Andes. The 284 kilometre long special stage was held on hard loamy soil. The participants had to cross a lot of dried out river beds which turned out to be very tough on the tires. A lot of cars suffered tire failures.
Two more MINI ALL4 Racing scored top ten positions on day three of the 2015 Dakar Rally. Joan "Nani" Roma (ES) and his co-driver Michel Périn (FR) finished in a strong sixth place, moving up eight places in the overall classification. They are now in 49th position overall.
The Dutch duo Erik van Loon and Wouter Rosegaar finished two places further down in eighth place. They are still in a strong seventh place in the overall classification, one position behind Krzysztof Holowczyc/Xavier Panseri (PL/FR) in the MINI ALL4 Racing, who were in 12th position today.
On Wednesday (Leg 4 - Chilecito/Copiapo) the drivers will cross the border to Chile. Stage four will be started up in the Andes at an altitude of just over 3,000 metres and will be characterized by twisty mountain roads at the beginning. Later they have to cross large dunes with extremely fine sand before reaching the finish line in Copiapo, which is located at an altitude of approximately 1,000 metres above sea level.
Overall classification after leg 3 (Top 5).
01 Al-Attiyah/Baumel - MINI ALL4 Racing - 9:21:26h
02 De Villiers/Von Zitzewitz - 9:26:18h
03 Terranova/Graue – MINI ALL4 Racing - 9:39:31h
04 Sainz/Cruz - 9:40:58h
05 Al Rajhi/Gottschalk - 9:41:34h
Coming up.
Day 4 (07 January 2015).
Start/finish: Chilecito/Copiapo (Leg 4)
Total distance: 909 km, Special stage: 315 km, Liaison: 594 km
MINI ALL4 Racing 2015 Dakar Rally Lineup.
Monster Energy Rally Raid Team.
#300 Nani Roma/Michel Périn (ES/FR)
#305 Orlando Terranova/Bernardo „Ronnie“ Graue (AR/AR)
#306 Krzysztof Holowczyc/Xavier Panseri (PL/FR)
X-raid Team.
#310 Vladimir Vasilyev/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RU/RU)
#314 Erik van Loon/Wouter Rosegaar (NL/NL)
#319 Boris Garafulic/Filipe Palmeiro (CL/PT)
#329 Aidyn Rakhimbayev/Anton Nikolaev (KZ/RU)
#332 Zhou Yong/Andreas Schulz (CN/DE)
#334 Stephan Schott/Holm Schmidt (DE/DE)
Qatar Rally Team.
#301 Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel (QT/FR)