There have been celebrations in the sand as Jakub Przygonski wins the 2018 Dubai International Baja for MINI. Taking the victory with Belgian co-driver Tom Colsoul also means Przygonski takes the lead in the 2018 FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup. And we can share some great photos of the pair tackling tough dunes and soft sand in their MINI John Cooper Works Rally.
MINI and their motorsport partner X-raid were in a good position from the start, completing the initial leg of the Baja in first place and keeping it through the second day of the competition to reach the finish line 4 minutes and 33 seconds ahead of the next team.
Przygonski was previously an off-road motorcycle racer before switching to focus more on four wheels. And he claimed his first win in 2017, driving a MINI at the Baja Italy. 2018 has already seen him take a fourth position at the Baja Russia in February. And he now leads the championship after the first two of 11 rounds which take in countries including Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, Abu Dhabi, Hungary, and his home round in Poland.
Obviously both the new MINI, and the original Mini, share a history of success in rallying and off-road racing. So it’s not surprising that the modern version bearing the name of John Cooper continues to do well. But newer MINI probably looks better than the original when it’s taking on sand dunes. And definitely has better ground clearance.
Jakub ‘Kuba’ Przygonski: “We are really happy to win this race. Today we had a lot of soft sand with a lot of tracks, which was not so easy to drive but we opened the stage and that helped us to learn a lot.
“In the beginning, our plan was to finish this race on the podium and we have won, so we are really happy. The MINI John Cooper Works Rally was great and we didn’t have any problems. The cooperation with Tom was perfect and we are happy that now, after Dubai, we are leading the World Cup and looking forward to Abu Dhabi.”
Leave a Reply