Dandy Land Their Truck On The Side, Martin Finishes Fourth

6.1.2015

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Thus year’s Dakar has already let our mechanic Daniel Kozlovský feel how incredibly tough it can get. In the demanding second stage of the famous distance rally the pilot Artur Ardavichus and his crew’s truck turned over to the body side in one of the narrow passages. The crew remained unharmed but finished the stage almost an hour later than the winning Russian Nikolaev. On the other hand, our Renault with the Dutch pilot Martin van den Brink behind the steering wheel almost reached a podium ranking.

„Despite the bad luck we can consider ourselves lucky today. The important thing is that the guys weren’t injured. I think Artur had a board cam on his helmet, so we might take a look at what exactly happened there. At least our fans can look forward to some action,“ commented our team’s executive Klára Kress.

            The accident befell Ardavichus and his crew between third and fourth timed station, towards the end of the first third of the time test. At that moment, the Czech-Kazakhstani ensemble were driving on thirteenth position. However, after coming to one of the extremely narrow stony passages their Jamal ended up on the side. “Artur left the ideal track, drove onto the stone and turned the car on the side. Fortunately, nothing happened to anyone and neither the truck was severely damaged, so it we could continue and finish the stage without further problems,“ described the event Tomáš Vrátný going right behind his colleagues and immediately coming to help them.

            Stage 2 from Villa Carlos Paz to San Juan has been among the most difficult timed sections since the race was taken to the South American continent. Some of the motorcycle riders were exhausted and dehydrated to such a degree that they collapsed at the finish, and so the organizers decided to cut their concluding section short. Anyway, the trucks had to go a total of 646 km out of which 331km involved the special timed section that started already after some thirty kilometres and took the crews up to two thousand kilometres above the sea level. The trucks spent the first half of the timed section in the mountains only to gradually descend 1,700 m lower. Eventually, the dusty stage found its winner after three-and-a-half hour drive in Eduard Nikolaev on a Kamaz. The Russian was followed by Viazovich on second and Mardeev on third place. Martin van den Brink on a Renault from our technology centre ranked right behind them with a two-minute loss after Stacey and Kolomý dropped in the overall ranking due to penalty. His fellow Dutch Pascal de Baar crossed the finish line n eighteenth and Tomáš Vrátný on twentieth place. Ardavichus and Kozlovský finished the stage on thirty-fourth rank with an hour-long gap. Third member of the Bonver Dakar Project Poland‘ Szustkowski finished ten ranks lower. “We have one of the best technology pits and a great mechanics‘ team so it’s beyond any doubt that after tonight the car will be as good as new and we can go full throttle again,“ added Dandy.

            The Dakar ranking in the trucks category is led by the Dutch Stacey. Martin van den Brink is on eighth place. Third stage from San Juan do Chilecito stretches over 542km out of which 284 will be timed.

Results - trucks – stage 2: 1. Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz 3:34:01, 2. Viazovich (BLR) Maz +46s, 3. Mardeev (RUS) Kamaz +49, 4. Van den Brink (NED) Tatra Trucks +2:07, 5. Kolomý (CZE) Tatra +2:11, 7. Loprais (CZE) MAN +2:40, 12. Macík (CZE) Liaz +7:28, 18. De Baar (NED) Renault Trucks +20:22, 20. Vrátný (CZE) Tatra +27:27, 34. Ardavichus/Kozlovský (KAZ/CZE) Tatra +58:02, 44. Szustkowski (POL) Tatra +1:33:18.

Total: 1. Stacey (NED) Iveco 5:06:11, 2. Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz +20s, 3. Kolomý (CZE) Tatra +1:01, 4. Mardeev (RUS) Kamaz +1:05, 5. Viazovich (BLR) Maz +1:25, 6. Loprais (CZE) MAN +2:00, 8. Van den Brink (NED) Tatra Trucks +4:08, 13. Macík (CZE) Liaz +12:11, 16. De Baar (NED) Renault Trucks +26:08, 20. Vrátný (CZE) Tatra 35:21, 27. Ardavichus/Kozlovský (KAZ/CZE) Tatra +1:00:24, 40. Szustkowski (POL) Tatra +1:53:45.

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