Armindo Araujo’s team boss Bruno De Pianto says the MINI John Cooper Works WRC driver’s career-best seventh place on Rally Guanajuato Mexico on Sunday has done the WRC Team MINI Portugal squad proud.
Araujo drove without error on the tough third round of the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia held on high-altitude gravel stages around host city Leon. It was the first time the Prodrive-developed machine, run by Motorsport Italia, had competed in the country.
“We’re very excited to have finished the event in seventh overall with Armindo Araujo,” said De Pianto. “He did a great job all weekend and he’s done us all very proud. His MINI worked perfectly and now we are all waiting to see what he - and we - can do on Vodafone Rally de Portugal.”
De Pianto said Araujo’s ability to adapt his MINI to new events was worthy of significant praise.
“As a team manager, it’s a pleasure to work with a driver like Armindo,” he said. “So far this season, he’s taken on three events in a row that he’s never competed on before in a MINI - on Tarmac, snow and gravel. He’s not only successfully completed every single stage, but overcome a problem like having to drive through the Qualifying Stage here without putting in a competitive time, be first out on the tough Mexican gravel and still moved up through the field to finish seventh.”