Monster Energy/X-raid/MINI ALL 4 Racing Fourteen days, running flat out across the unforgiving Atacama Desert, traversing the Andes Mountains through passes once reserved for pack mules and the most able-bodied travelers, and forging water hazards that can float and auto – the Dakar Rally, formerly known as the Paris-to-Dakar Rally, is home to the cutest little candy-colored race cars in all of motorsport. But don’t let those colors fool you. Because making them look mean is the Monster Energy M-claw logo, big and bold on the side, back, roof and hood of the 2012 X-raid/MINI ALL 4 Racing team vehicles.

Led by French endurance off-road legend Stephane Peterhansel – a nine-time winner at Dakar (six motorcycle title, three auto) - the Monster Energy/X-raid/MINI team runs the 33^rd annual Dakar in 2012 – an event run across three countries in South America that ultimately decides what drivers and support crews can dig down the furthest, while overcoming unspeakable odds, to reign victorious in what’s considered by many to be pinnacle of endurance off-road motorsport. Joining under the Monster Energy banner at Dakar will again be Polish great Krzysztof Holowczyc – a seven-time Dakar Rally combatant/5^th at Dakar last year – along with Russian FIA World Cup Cross Country great Leonid Novitskiy and 2004 motorcycle class Dakar champion Joan Roma.

Opening in Mara Del Plata, the 2012 Dakar Rally runs five stages through Argentina before crossing into neighboring Chile for five more stages – with the final four stages being run through Peru. The Monster Energy/X-raid/MINI team will cover some 8,400 kilometers – roughly have of which (4,200 km) will be special stages. The total event will be spread out over 14 days this year, versus 12 days in 2010.

CORONA, Calif. (Dec. 21, 2011) – Experience abounds in Monster Energy’s 2012 Dakar Rally effort with the X-raid/MINI ALL Racing team. The 33^rd running of the great race, again taking place this year over 14 days and across three countries in South America, will ultimately decide what drivers and support crews can dig down the furthest, while overcoming unspeakable odds, to reign victorious in what’s considered by many to be pinnacle of endurance off-road motorsport.

Opening on Jan. 1^st, 2012, in Argentina, Monster Energy’s iconic M-claw logo will again adorn the race suit of one of the greatest off-road legends of our time – France’s Stephane Peterhansel. A nine-time winner of Dakar – six times being on a motorcycle – Peterhansel will look to move his winning legacy at Dakar into the double digits here this next month.

“We are well set up,” says Team Manager Sven Quandt. “Stephane is obviously our spearhead, but we have strong drivers in all the remaining four MINI ALL4 Racing cars.”

Joining Peterhansel under the Monster Energy banner at Dakar will again be Polish great Krzysztof Holowczyc – a seven-time Dakar Rally combatant/5^th at Dakar last year – along with Russian FIA World Cup Cross Country great Leonid Novitskiy and 2004 motorcycle class Dakar champion Joan Roma.

“The team will need a top-quality line-up like this too, if it is to master the challenges that lie ahead,” added Quandt. “It will be a difficult Dakar, and the fans are sure to see a tough battle for the victory. It is made particularly difficult by the route, much of which is new.”

Opening in Mara Del Plata, the 2012 Dakar Rally runs five stages through Argentina before crossing into neighboring Chile for five more stages – with the final four stages being run through Peru. The Monster Energy/X-raid/MINI team will cover some 8,400 kilometers – roughly have of which (4,200 km) will be special stages. The total event will be spread out over 14 days this year, versus 12 days in 2010.

The opening hard, gravel road stages of the 2012 Dakar will no doubt favor some of Monster Energy/X-raid/MINI ALL 4 Racing’s competitors, but Quandt insists that once the teams hit the sands on Day Five – and head over the Andes to the Atacama Desert – that the playing field will tilt in favor of the MINIs. “Our vehicles are very strong in the sand,” he says. Generating more than 300 horsepower on a lightweight chassis and body, the X-raid tuned MINIs have passed each and every test the team has put them through – including the final test session on the sands around Morocco.

“Winning Dakar has been a dream and I feel this dream getting more real by the day,” says Quandt.