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Mini on an impressive roll


Paul Stokell finished ninth overall on Sunday in the gruelling rally in a Mini with “Tasmanian Tiger” livery.

It was the second consecutive year Mini was first front-wheel-drive car home. Second was the Mazda3 MPS driven by Rick Bates.

“We had an entertaining dice all rally long with the Mazda," Stokell's co-driver Peter Burrey said.

“It spurred us on, but Paul is such a great driver we did not have one (worrying) moment on the whole rally.”

Team Mini partners Grant Denyer finished 20th with Dale Moscatt in the Mini “Cheetah” while Mike Sinclair and Bill Hayes in the Mini “Python” were 40th.

The rally results comes as the new Mini has scored the highest-possible five-star Euro NCAP result.

The new Mini Cooper achieved 13 out of 16 points for deformation behaviour in a head-on collision, and 16 from 18 points in the side-on and pillar collision. Mini Cooper is now 60mm longer than its predecessor to meet pedestrian impact regulations. The car also comes standard with six airbags, three-point inertia-reel seat belts on all four seats and ISOFIX child seat fastening systems in the rear.

Active safety includes brake assist, cornering brake control and brake force distribution.