{"id":7115,"date":"2014-01-23T12:18:41","date_gmt":"2014-01-23T11:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tyretrade.ie\/?p=7115"},"modified":"2014-01-23T12:18:41","modified_gmt":"2014-01-23T11:18:41","slug":"coopers-xavi-foj-takes-t2-class-podium-in-dakar-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tyretrade.ie\/index.php\/coopers-xavi-foj-takes-t2-class-podium-in-dakar-2014\/7115","title":{"rendered":"Cooper’s Xavi Foj takes T2 Class podium in Dakar 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooper Tire Europe\u2019s 4×4 ambassador, Xavi Foj, ended an epic fightback to place third in class in the toughest race in the world \u2013 the Dakar Rally.<\/p>\n

Following victories in 2012 and 2013, the Spaniard, who has used Cooper Discoverer S\/T MAXX tyres in the past three Dakar events, endured a difficult opening to his 2014 Dakar campaign and hopes of a T2 Class hat-trick faded in the opening week.<\/p>\n

Brake issues and an electronic problem, which brought Foj and navigator Santamar\u00eda to the brink of retirement, saw the duo fall down the order and a podium finish looked to be beyond the realms of possibility.<\/p>\n

\"Dakar1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Foj \u2013 a Dakar veteran \u2013 would not give in without a fight, though, and his luck turned for the better on day six. Battling through the sand and rocks, which characterise the Dakar, the cross-country rally ace launched a valiant fightback, chipping away at the T2 class timings.<\/p>\n

Relentless in his pursuit of a podium finish, Foj powered on to move up to third in the class rankings on stage 10 after an excellent series of stages. From that point onwards, Foj and Santamar\u00eda were able to consolidate their position in the class standings \u2013 too far behind the leading duo, the Spanish crew focused on making the best of their runs, without taking unnecessary risks.<\/p>\n

Foj\u2019s journey to his sixth consecutive Dakar Rally podium was eventful to the finish, as the Catalonian lost several minutes in the closing stages, stopping in true Dakar spirit to aid a competitor who had suffered a serious accident.<\/p>\n

Despite this loss of time, Foj\u2019s podium position was unchallenged and he navigated his Toyota Land Cruiser safely to the finish at Valparaiso, placing third overall in the T2 Production and 34th overall in the general car classification.<\/p>\n

Foj commented after the rally, saying: \u201cIt has been a difficult Dakar; I had never seen so much broken ground as in this race\u2026this has been hard for the vehicles that have suffered a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI congratulate the Autobody team, because they have made a perfect race and I want to thank my sponsors, including Cooper Tire, for giving me the most perfect tyres. I cannot forget the media and the fans \u2013 we know that they have pushed, so I\u2019d like to say thank you very much to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah McRoberts, Marketing Communications Manager for Cooper Tire Europe, added: \u201cThis year\u2019s Dakar Rally has undoubtedly been one of the toughest in history. Several competitors have been caught out by the particularly challenging terrains and it\u2019s testament to Xavi, his crew and the Cooper S\/T MAXX tyres that they were able to perform above our expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of everyone at Cooper, I\u2019d like to congratulate Xavi for his fantastic run of results in the Dakar \u2013 he\u2019s a true professional and we\u2019re very much looking forward to working with him in the coming months.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cooper Tire Europe\u2019s 4×4 ambassador, Xavi Foj, ended an epic fightback to place third in class in the toughest race in the world \u2013 the Dakar Rally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":7116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[454,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cooper","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCooper's Xavi Foj takes T2 Class podium in Dakar 2014 - TyreTrade.ie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tyretrade.ie\/index.php\/coopers-xavi-foj-takes-t2-class-podium-in-dakar-2014\/7115\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cooper's Xavi Foj takes T2 Class podium in Dakar 2014 - 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