Jakub Przygonski secured a top five finish in a very solid Dakar Rally on Saturday, with the X-Raid Mini racer shadowing the leaders throughout, despite feeling his inexperience worked against him.
The Pole, alongside Belgian co-driver Tom Consoul, finished the final 119-kilometre stage with the sixth fastest time to consolidate his position inside the top five overall, and felt that despite his limited experience compared to the drivers around him, it is a great feeling to finish only two hours, forty-five minutes and twenty-four seconds behind rally winner Carlos Sainz Sr..
“We are so happy to be at the finish,” said Przygonski. “It was a tough race and not so easy.
“We checked and all of guys in front of us are very experienced at Dakar so we are happy to be in such a good group. I am one of the youngest, for sure, in the top five and top ten so I think we have to get some more experience and then we will be really, really fast.”
Przygonski felt the Mini John Cooper Works Rally machine worked well throughout the event, feeling it was an improvement from 2017’s event, and ultimately it was a really good event for him and his co-driver.
“It was a good race for me and Tom, we had a good connection inside the car and our car was really good,” said Przygonski. “For sure, the car was better than last year with less weight and better suspension and tyres.
“We had no issues all race, the car was definitely faster and everything worked really good for us.”
