45th Edition of The Dakar has started

31.12.2022

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Two trucks of the North Bohemian MKR Technology team finished the ceremonial prologue of the Dakar rally in the TOP 10. Dutch pilot Gert Huzink finished eighth, followed by his teammate Pascal de Baar. The third from the Riwald Dakar Team, Adwin Hoondert, finished the initial test on sixteenth place. The 45th year of the most famous long-distance competition on the planet was officially launched, and from the New Year the race will be in full swing.

The last day of the 2022 belongs to the ceremonial presentation of the crews on the podium and to the thirteen-kilometer prologue at Sea Camp. Czech crew of Martin Macík dominated in the prologue. Eighth Gert Huzink with a North Bohemian Renault from the MKR Technology workshop lost eighteen seconds to him. Ninth Pascal de Baar lost another twelve seconds. Adwin Hoondert, who is making his debut in Chvalín's Renault, was just over a minute behind the winner. "Prologue is here mainly to secure a starting position for the 1st stage. The boys accomplished exactly what they set out to do, despite the fact that they were not entirely satisfied. The route was clearly of the WRC type. We are looking much more forward to the field. So now I just wish that the necessary dose of luck will be with us, which is just as important at the Dakar as the preparation of the vehicle itself," says designer Mario Kress.

On Sunday, January 1st, the famous competition will start. Right at the beginning, the crews will have to tackle over six hundred kilometers, of which almost three hundred and seventy kilometers will be a timed section. The 1st stage will be a loop, where the sandy track will lead over long stony and gravel sections, and at the very end, the crews will pass through the first sand dunes . "According to the organizers, the opening stage shouldn't be particularly difficult, but it should already show who is strong, so I believe that we will continue at least as well as in the prologue," Mario Kress keeps his fingers crossed for his trucks.

Saudi Arabia hosts the Dakar Rally for the fourth time. 45th edition includes 14 stages, one day off, a marathon part and a total of over eight and a half thousand kilometers, of which there are more than four and a half thousand kilometers of timed sections. The MKR Technology workshop prepared a trio of Renault Trucks for the pilots of the Dutch Riwald Dakar Team - Gert Huzink (#520), Pascal de Baar (#507) and Adwin Hoodert (#538). The race finishes on January 15 in Dammam.

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