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Second stage and second victory! North-Bohemian trucks are starting the Moroccan rally big. This time Martin van den Brink is happy with gold, as he totally owned the longest stage of tenth edition of Morocco Desert Challenge and moved into overall lead.
First stage, first victory. MKR Technology team has started Morocco Desert Challenge rally in an excellent way. Dutch pilot Janus van Kasteren from Mammoet Rallysport team was the fastest man on the course. Martin van den Brink, his team-mate, crossed the line on bronze position.
Presentation in Lyon, tests in Almería and attempt for golden hatrick in Morocco Desert Challenge. This is how actual programme of MKR Technology looks like. The programme started on Easter. Rally, which after big changes in the last year, has taken second position, right behind the famous Dakar and demanding Silk Way, starts next week and trio of North-bohemian trucks will try to defend their crown and get third win in a row.
Czech fans of rally Dakar had a totally unique opportunity. On Sunday at the Sosnová circuit near Česká Lípa, grand meeting of Czech crews and machinery took place - all associated with the famous race. 4th edition had the strongest line-up in history, including almost complete crews of domestic participants. And MKR Technology trucks, for the first time, were part of it. Dutch pilot Martin van den Brink also paid a visit.
It’s over! 40th edition of Dakar Rally is history. In the end Russian driver Eduard Nikolaev took the win, but north-bohemian truck from MKR Technology team has done a great job. The truck driven by Gerd Huzink took seventh place in the ranking. Two Czech trucks made to the top 10 - the one by MKR and fifth overall with Martin Macík.
Anniversary Dakar heading to finish! Teams have just tackled penultimate stage into finishing city of Córdoba, where Dakar will close this edition on Saturday. In 13th stage, despite technical problems, north-bohemian MKR Technology truck with Gerd Huzink has managed to climb into overall 8th place.
During the 12th racing day the teams of Dakar Rally had to handle a longest timed stage. Russian Nikolajev returned to the overall lead after a day spent lower in the ranking. But his lead is just a single second. Gerd Huzink, riding a north Bohemian Renault Trucks special already aimed to the podium, but he was blocked by a punctured tire.
Both good and bad news came to the designer team of MKR Technology during the 11th stage of Dakar Rally. While Janus van Kasteren`s truck did not manage to get to the start of the stage due to technical issues, the situation was saved by Gerd Huzink ranking as a fifth in the difficult stage.
There is no easy stage on this year`s Dakar! The 10th race stage tested the technique and limits of human abilities. The teams talk about real purgatory; the ranking shuffles. While the pilot of north Bohemian MKR Technology truck, Gerd Huzink, entered the top ten, a lot of doubts is with pilot Janus van Kasteren due to his technical problems with transmission.
Extreme follows an extreme. This year`s Dakar Rally shows, why it is considered to be the world`s most difficult distant competition. And the organizers really tried. There is no resting stage, technique and people suffer, they get nothing for free and this is what the teams actually like. Also the 8th stage on Sunday was one of the most difficult. The trucks from north-Bohemian MKR Technology dealt with the problems successfully, though they lost some time.
Dakar comes to its second half after a day off on Friday, and again in a big style. During the 7th stage the teams not only reached high altitude, but what is more, they have to manage without external help. The stage is in the mode of so called ‘marathon’, which means that for two days everyone relies on themselves only.
High hopes had the fans of Dutch-Czech team with Martin van den Brink and on-board technician Daniel Kozlovský. After news of dropping out before 5th stage of Rally Dakar their truck from northern Bohemia from MKR Technology centre totally unexpectedly appeared on the start list of 6th stage on Thursday, which they have finished in the TOP 10. But then their hopes died. Their team is really out from this edition of Dakar.