Dakar enters its second half
10.1.2017
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After the unexpected two-day break the Dakar Rally takes off again. Monday’s stage seven marked the beginning of the rally’s second half. However, its end left the crews all alone again, as the marathon part of the famous race, when all teams have to survive without their mechanics and back-up teams, comes up on the schedule. Luckily, performance of Mammoet Rallysport’s Renaults constructed in the north of the Czech Republic was not affected by this.
“The cancelled stage on Saturday and planned rest on Sunday brought us some extra time that we could spend on technical preparation of all the trucks for the final week. Unfortunately, the bivouacs were drenched with water and full of mud, which made things even harder, but we did everything in our power,” believes Mario Kress, chief constructor of the North Bohemia based MKR Technology.
In fact, bad weather was the reason why the organizers cancelled Saturday’s stage six and substantially altered the route of stage from La Paz to Uyuni as well. Eventually, the timed special stretched over 161 kilometres of mostly sandy off-road track, preceded and followed by 400 and 240 kilometres of transport stage, respectively. This time the Russian Sotnikov was the fastest. Pilot of the Czech racing special Pascal de Baar concluded the elite top ten with only a 9-minute margin on the winner. Having overcome lengthy technical issues, his team colleague Martin van den Brink finished on 23rd place and continues to strive for the best possible result despite the circumstances. The 30-minute loss was caused mainly by the disadvantageous starting position at the back of the field. Albert Llovera, the handicapped Andorran racer of the Bonver Dakar Project whose Tatra is propelled by a driving unit from MKR Technology’s R&D centre, occupied 27th rank.
Former champion de Rooy carries on as a leader, beating the Russian Sotnikov by a mere 2’11”. Pascal de Baar dropped to 6th rank, losing 37 minutes on the leader. Nevertheless, his truck is the best Czech special in the competition. Llovera is on 24th and Martin van den Brink, who is carrying the Roudnice based mechanic Daniel Kozlovský in the cabin, is on 40th place.
In stage eight the teams are going to move from Bolivia back to Argentina. While the nearly 900km stage from Uyuni to Salta is the second longest this year, its special, formed by almost 500km, is the absolutely longest of all. This episode will definitely not be an easy one. The teams will gradually leave the Altiplano plateau and approach fords, dunes and colourful canyons.
Dakar 2017
Results – Stage 7 (La Paz - Uyuni, 161 km):
1. Sotnikov (Rus) Kamaz 1:41:35
2. van Genugten (Ned) Iveco +2:51
3. Villagra (Arg) Iveco +3:37
4. de Rooy (Ned) Iveco +4:25
5. Viazovich (Blr) MAZ +5:22
10. de Baar (Ned) Renault Trucks +9:08
23. van den Brink (Ned) Renault Trucks +35:23
27. Llovera (And) Tatra +1:22:23
Overall:
1. de Rooy (Ned) Iveco 15:52:07
2. Sotnikov (Rus) Kamaz +2:11
3. Nikolaev (Rus) Kamaz +5:57
4. Mardeev (Rus) Kamaz +20:12
5. Villagra (Arg) Iveco +33:42
6. de Baar (Ned) Renault Trucks +37:18
25. Llovera (And) Tatra +8:56:19
40. van den Brink (Ned) Renault Trucks +24:03:46
After the unexpected two-day break the Dakar Rally takes off again. Monday’s stage seven marked the beginning of the rally’s second half. However, its end left the crews all alone again, as the marathon part of the famous race, when all teams have to survive without their mechanics and back-up teams, comes up on the schedule. Luckily, performance of Mammoet Rallysport’s Renaults constructed in the north of the Czech Republic was not affected by this.
