MONSTER X-RAID TEAM SAFELY ARRIVES IN BUENOS AIRES FOR START OF 33RD PERSONAL DAKAR ARGENTINA-CHILE

MONSTER X-RAID TEAM NEWS

33rd Personal Dakar Argentina-Chile (January 1st-16th, 2011)

News from Buenos Aires

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

MONSTER X-RAID TEAM SAFELY ARRIVES IN BUENOS AIRES FOR START OF 33RD PERSONAL DAKAR ARGENTINA-CHILE

-Mechanics and engineers set to work to prepare cars for start

-Chicherit and Périn complete short shakedown in Mini All4 Racing

BUENOS AIRES (Argentina): All members of the Monster Energy X-raid rally team has safely arrived in Buenos Aires to begin final preparations for the official start of the 33rd Personal Dakar Argentina-Chile on New Year’s Day.

Six BMW X3CCs, the brand new Mini All4 Racing and the team’s fleet of race trucks, service trucks and support vehicles have been removed from the dock area in Buenos Aires and are being prepared by Sven Quandt’s army of mechanics and engineers.

Guerlain Chicherit and co-driver Michel Périn managed to carry out a short pre-event test in the Mini All4 Racing about 50km from Buenos Aires at a nearby motorcross circuit on Wednesday afternoon. Chicherit’s Mini has been developed in record time and the Frenchman will be hoping to improve on the fifth position he obtained with a BMW X3CC last year.

The entire X-raid team will attend pre-rally administration and scrutineering formalities at La Rural conference centre in Buenos Aires on Friday morning, before the competition cars are placed in a Parc Ferme area. Team members will then attend a New Year’s Eve dinner in the fashionable Puerto Madero area of the city to celebrate the start of the New Year.

One hundred and fifty-six cars, 183 bikes, 33 quads, 68 trucks and competitors from 51 nations are expected to finalise pre-rally formalities over the next two days before the official start on New Year’s Day.

MONSTER ENERGY X-RAID TEAM COMPLETES FIRST TEST WITH MINI ALL4 RACING IN FRANCE

X-RAID TEAM NEWS

33.Rallye Dakar 2011

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

MONSTER ENERGY X-RAID TEAM COMPLETES FIRST TEST WITH MINI ALL4 RACING IN FRANCE

All-new MINI All4 Racing runs for around 300km in first trouble-free test in Le Creusot

TREBUR (Germany): The Monster Energy X-raid Team has completed a successful two-day test session with the new MINI All4 Racing at Le Creusot in France.

Driver Guerlain Chicherit and co-driver Michel Périn carried out the successful test on Monday, December 13th and Tuesday, December 14th, near Le Creusot, in the Saône-et-Loire department of the Burgundy region of France, south west of Dijon.

"After the short roll-out last Friday in Trebur, I was very excited to drive the car on the test track for the first time and was really content with everything,” enthused Chicherit, who finished fifth in the Dakar with the X-raid team in 2010. “The handling is excellent, the engine is very responsive and it is well balanced at jumps because of the improved centre of gravity. The view out of the car is much better than we were led to believe when the car was being built. Visibility is good and there is no disadvantage compared to the BMW X3CC.”

X-raid team director Sven Quandt was also pleased with the results of the first test session. “Altogether everything was optimistic and I am very happy that the car is finished and ready for the Dakar in such a short time. We carried out around 300km on the test track. The whole team is now looking forward to the world debut of the MINI All4 Racing in the Dakar Rally in January.”

Monster Energy X-Raid Team Unveils MINI ALL4 Racing for 2011 Dakar [DE]

MONSTER ENERGY X-RAID TEAM UNVEILS MINI ALL4 RACING FOR WORLD DEBUT ON GRUELING 2011 DAKAR RALLY IN SOUTH AMERICA

* New MINI All4 Racing unveiled after 90 days from start of project

* Chicherit and Périn set to drive new MINI All4 Racing

* Magna-Steyr, Heggemann and Faster boost MINI project

* TÜV Rheinland to support Monster Energy X-raid Team

MINI All4 Racing

TREBUR (Germany): The X-raid Team unveiled an exciting new cross-country motor sport programme to run and develop the MINI All4 Racing in international competition.

The project was first discussed in the summer of 2009 and the competitive debut of the new MINI All4 Racing will be in the hands of the French rally crew of Guerlain Chicherit and co-driver Michel Périn in January’s 33rd Personal Dakar Argentina-Chile. The event starts in Buenos Aires on New Year’s Day and finishes in the Argentine capital on Sunday, January 16th, 2011.

Guerlain Chicherit

The new MINI All4 Racing will form part of X-raid’s seven-car Dakar team – the largest ever entered by a team in the 33-year history of the world’s most famous off-road rally – and the third of three vehicles running on the event under the Monster Energy X-raid Team banner.