Dakar is hitting the teams hard, MKR after 3rd stage are around top 10.

9.1.2018

Organizers are not holding it back. This edition of Rally Dakar is extremely difficult right from the first stages. 3rd stage was no exception - vehicles going in somersaults and flips or early drop-outs were not uncommon. Trio of north-bohemian trucks designed by MKR Technology finished in the TOP 10. Van Kasteren finished seventh, Huzink eighth, followed by Martin van den Brink with on-board technician Kozlovský from Roudnice nad Labem, Czech republic.

            “It’s a massacre. This is the real Dakar. The sand is very soft, vehicles get buried in it very easily and dunes are huge and rolling, which is an awful combination. You get lost and don't even know how this happened. Many trucks had troubles getting over the dunes" commented after 3rd stage Daniel Kozlovský, native from Roudnice nad Labem and on-board technician of the Renault Trucks team number 506.

            Kozlovský's crew with van den Brink were holding ninth position. They reached the finish after almost three hundred kilometres of special section trailing by forty five minutes behind Argentinian winner Villagra with Iveco. Gerd Huzink from Riwald Dakar team taming another north-bohemian special took five minutes less.  But the fastest team from the trio Renaults from Židovice was rookie Janus van Kasteren, who reached the finish in San Juan de Marcona on seventh ranked position with 40minute gap on the Argentinian winner. “It is terrible to watch the conditions many teams are in when they get back to bivouac. Everyone is unbelievably beaten and it still just the third day. There is another eleven days ahead so anything can change in the ranking. I am glad, that except small navigation mishaps or flat tires, we have been avoiding any major troubles and we all believe this would happen. But Janus did a great job today“ added Mario Kress, lead designer of Renault Trucks specials and author of MKR Adventure project.

            After third stage with total length of more than five hundred kilometres Russian Nikolaev on Kamaz is in the lead. Stage winner got to second place. Martin van den Brink with Kozlovský are holding sixth position, eleventh position belongs to his team-mate Janus van Kasteren form Mammoet Rallysport and Gerd Huzink is fourteenth.

            The following 4th stage will be extremely difficult. More than half of it is sand and dunes.  Out of 444 km, the first 330 km is a timed special section. What is more, the teams will get quickly from zero altitude to two thousand meters. Both start and finish line are in San Juan de Marcona.