Bayerische Motoren Werke : MINI John Cooper Works Rally ranks second overall after Leg 11 - Dunhuang – Jiayuguan – Silk Way Rally 2017

MINI John Cooper Works Rally ranks second overall after Leg 11 - Dunhuang - Jiayuguan - Silk Way Rally 2017

• Both MINI John Cooper Works Rally cars (#101 & #105) finish Leg 11 in top four
• Bryce Menzies / Peter Mortensen move up to second place overall after a fourth place stage finish
• Yazeed Al Rajhi / Tom Colsoul break into the top 10 on the leader board after crossing the finish line in third

Munich. Stage 11 of the 2017 Silk Way Rally was not as planned for the competitors today after the first of the two planned special stages was cancelled. Part of the expected route crossed an area that has very recently been created as an Environmental Protection Area by the Chinese Authorities. Despite that, the second special stage went ahead as planned and proved successful for the MINI John Cooper Works Rally competitors.

Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and co-driver Tom Colsoul (BEL) were third over the finishing line in the #101 MINI John Cooper Works Rally today, placing the pair inside the top 10 overall with just three stages remaining of this year's challenge.

Al Rahji: 'The race was ok, we had to push a little bit as Bryce was close behind us and I was scared that I would block him in the dust, but we tried our best to push more. Then we had an issue with the front tyre pressure that we had to fix fast before finishing the stage, but everything was ok.'

Less than three minutes behind Al Rajhi was the second MINI John Cooper Works Rally (#105) of Bryce Menzies (USA) and Peter Mortensen (USA). After a cautious start and getting caught in the dust from their fellow MINI competitors, the American duo finished the stage in fourth position and made up enough time to place Menzies and Mortensen second overall.

Menzies: 'We had a really good day starting third. I think we took it a little too cautious at the beginning and lost some time on Yazeed, then about half way through, we were overtaken and we got stuck in their dust so followed him the rest of the way. Towards the end there were some really high speed roads so there wasn't much we could do besides stay behind, but we're fourth overall today and second overall for the whole rally, I think we're sitting in a really good spot for going into the dunes in the next few days.'

Tomorrow's stage 12 of the 2017 Silk Way Rally takes the competitors on one of the hardest stages of the rally from Jiayuguan to Alxa Youqi and across 483.79km of varied terrain.

Silk Way Rally 2017: Ranking after Leg 11