The MINI cross country rally team has arrived in Abu Dhabi ahead of the upcoming Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge race with Dakar rally winner Joan 'Nani' Roma at its head. The Spanish driver arrives in the Gulf not only as the champion of the Dakar but also the defending winner of the Desert Challenge, having taken the win last year.
The MINI Monster Energy X-Raid team is riding high in this year's FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, having won the Dakar and with a second place on the Baja Russia with Vladimir Vasilyev at the wheel. Vasilyev also picked up a fourth place on the Baja Italy while his Polish team-mate Martin Kaczmarski came fourth in Russia and fifth in Italy.
Now an astonishing, punishing 2,000km yomp across the Arabian desert awaits the drivers and their cars, which are (kind of) based on the MINI Countryman John Cooper Works. The car has good form on the sort of loose desert sand that it will encounter in the race - it's a very similar surface to that found on this year's Dakar Rally.
Three other MINIs will join the team, for Dutch driver Erik Van Loon, Germany's Stefan Schott and Kazakhstan's Aidyn Rakhimbayev.
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The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge takes place from the 6th to the 10th of April.