Dakar started very cautiously

8.1.2019

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The famous Dakar has started and so have three trucks of the North Bohemian design team of MKR Technology. All Renaults from Židovice led by Dutch pilots van den Brink, van Kasteren and Huzink, have finished after a cautious initial drive with a minimal loss on the top ten.

            "No one wanted to go too fast and make a mistake. There are almost two difficult weeks ahead of us, so the pilots wanted to have a good start and got a feel of the things. They seem to have enjoyed the stage, which led mostly in the sand dunes, "said Mario Kress, lead designer of Dakar Renault trucks.

            The winner of the previous two Dakar editions, Eduard Nikolaev has been stellar right from the beginning. However, he was chased by three Iveco trucks with Dutchman van Genugten, Argentinian Villagra and the former champion de Rooy. Three Dutch pilots of North Bohemian trucks this time are close to the top ten. 13th position belongs to Martin van den Brink, Gert Huzink is 15th, followed by Janus van Kasteren. "The crew with Martin made a minor navigational error, where he lost about nine minutes, on the contrary, Gert had to slow down a bit after he had been overtaken by a Kamaz, so he did not have a clear view. In principle, this is nothing, because we are in the beginning and the losses are really negligible,"said Mario Kress.

            The first stage from Lima to Pisco was one of the shortest of this year's 41st edition of Dakar rally. The crews met the traps of the first dunes, but they had a total of only three hundred and thirty kilometers on the program, with a special section of ninety kilometers. The next day it will be more demanding. The Stage of Pisco to San Juan de Marcona is over five hundred and fifty kilometers and the special section is three hundred and forty.

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