Prodrive Hunter makes its mark at a rain hit Dakar Rally

The Prodrive Hunter has been making waves in the automotive market with the fact that it quite literally is a rally car for the road. Back on the rally stage as well, the Hunter made its mark with a fighting comeback for the Bahrain Raid Xtreme at the Dakar Rally.

With the Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq at the wheel, the Hunter secured a stage win by 3 mins 26 secs from the Toyota of South African Henk Lategan.

While the action in Saudi Arabia was cut short due to pools of water along the 447km stage from Alula to Ha'il as the leading cars reached the 378 km mark, it all came as a blessing in disguise for the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team as a series unfortunate punctures had dropped all four Prodrive Hunters from contention the previous day. 

Lithuanians Vaidotas Zala and Paulo Fiuza also impressed in the other Prodrive Hunter as they recorded the seventh fastest stage time in their Prodrive Hunter.

A delighted Chicherit said: “It’s great. We were on a good pace without pushing especially hard, just keeping the same strategy that we had from the start of this rally.”

“Sure it’s upsetting what happened yesterday, but now we’ve proved what we can do so we’ll stay focused and do the rally the way we planned by getting some good times, and some points for the World Rally Raid Championship.”

Vaidotas Zala added: “That was a good day. We’re really happy with the car in the stage, trying to be careful in the rocky sections, but after some tweaks overnight we’ve turned a corner.”