All Five Trucks Made It To The Finish Of The 2015 Dakar Rally!

18.1.2015

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The fight is over! 37th year of the roughest rally on the Globe has finished. The famous Dakar has come to its end and with it all five trucks of the unique alliance technologically supported by our team. Considering the fact that one third of trucks did not reach the finish in Buenos Aires, this is an unparalleled success.

„The impossible has turned reality. We’re at the end and all together. I think that the incredible relief must have been felt at home in Czech. After all, there are two weeks of all-night servicing past us. Everyone worked like a dog to be able to enjoy and feel the unique atmosphere. It was definitely worth it and great thanks to the entire team, our great alliance as well as the fans for their amazing support,“ expressed his gratitude our team boss and chief constructor Mario Kress.

Eventually, the concluding stage 13 proved to be a formality. Bad weather caused the track from Rosario to Buenos Aires to be shortened. The crews had to go almost four hundred kilometres, but the timed stage was measured only up to the first waypoint instead of the original hundred and seventy-four kilometres. Afterwards the racers smoothly crossed to the capital city of Argentina, where spectacular celebrations broke out. The joy of the premiere victory was Airat Mardeev’s from Russia, who managed to go the measured half of the total distance of 8,151 m in forty-two hours. The „death rate“ was enormous, one third of the crews that started had to finish prematurely. A few times even the racing specials of the probably largest co-operating alliance at the Dakar Rally – the Czech Bonver Dakar Project and Dutch Mammoet Rallysport teams. All these trucks were delivered powertrains constructed by our team. In addition, two racing Renaults were completely built in our centre. “I guess everyone got into some trouble during the race, an accident, failure of technology, simply speaking things that go hand in hand with the Dakar. Without a fat portion of luck you’re basically without a chance. Right, we neither made it to the winners‘ podium nor achieved major success, though we came quite close several times, but in many respects, this was still a huge premiere for us and we can be really proud. We can build on experience now and know what to do better,“ told us Mario with pride.

Our main goal, arrive at the finish safe and sound, has been fulfilled. In the overall ranking, the best result of the entire alliance was achieved by Tomáš Vrátný, who had considered himself, perhaps with too much self-criticism, to be the weakest link of the three-member Bonver Dakar Project. Although he ranked on fourteenth place overall, he could easily get a special award for saving and helping others. During the entire Dakar he made countless stops to help others. Despite that, he fact that he occupied a position close to the top ten. The most unlucky person was probably Martin van den Brink, who regularly finished around seventh position, but difficulties in two stages made him drop to the overall seventeenth place. Similarly, Artur Ardavichus with our mechanic Daniel Kozlovský got removed from the fight for a position in top ten after their turbo broke in seventh position. They were beaten by their colleague Robert Szustkowski on nineteenth place. Fifth of the alliance and a great help to Martin van den Brink Pascal de Baar finished on thirty-first place. “The thing we didn’t entirely achieve in the field absolutely worked out in the team. Whether in terms of logistics, support or technical equipment, good mood, I dare say that in this respect we’re the true winners. Many people were turning their heads in disbelief and didn’t understand how big the improvement we made actually has been. I kept ensuring them that the most important year is yet ahead of us. I’m happy that the Bonver Dakar Project is perceived very positively by foreign pilots and I’m wondering myself how far the team can get,“ concluded the Bonver boss Tomáš Vrátný on the 2015 Dakar.

Results - Trucks – stage 13: 1. Stacey (NED) Iveco 20:30, 2. Van Vliet (NED) MAN +1:21, 3. Mardeev (RUS) Kamaz +2:23, 4. Sotnikov (RUS) Kamaz +2:45, 5. Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz +3:32, 6. Kolomý (CZE) Tatra +4:30, 9. van den Brink (NED) Renault +6:20, 11. de Baar (NED) Renault Trucks +9:09, 14. Loprais (CZE) MAN +13:17, 18. Szustkowski (POL) Tatra +17:50, 23. Vrátný (CZE) Tatra +21:41, 28. Ardavichus/Kozlovský (KAZ/CZE) Tatra +25:53.

Overall ranking: 1. Mardeev (RUS) Kamaz 42:22:01, 2. Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz +13:52, 3. Karginov (RUS) Kamaz +51:00, 4. Loprais (CZE) MAN +1:56:37, 5. Sotnikov (RUS) Kamaz +2:24:32, 7. Kolomý (CZE) Tatra + 4:07:29, 14. Vrátný (CZE) Tatra +9:55:54, 17. van den Brink (NED) Renault Trucks +11:07:33, 19. Szustkowski (POL) Tatra +12:42:05, 22. Ardavichus/Kozlovský (KAZ/CZE) Tatra +17:44:05, 31.  de Baar (NED) Renault Trucks +29:05:09.

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