Defect spoils chaces of defending win at OiLibya Rally
10.10.2017
Unofortunately, the MKR Technology team has not been meant to complete a goldren hattrick at the OiLibya Rally. The plan has been spoilt by a technical defect of the engine, and so Martin van den Brink and his crew were forced to end the Morocco rally prematurely.
In the past two years the OiLibya Rally had not found a different winner than a truck constructed at the MKR Technology centre in the north of the Czech Republic. This year’s race started out great for Martin van den Brink. Second rank in the prologue secured him a great starting position in stage one. “However, technical problems occurred in the engine and Martin got stuck in the desert. The team were looking for him for twelve long hours,” shared Mario Kress, chief constructor of Dakar specials, quite an unbelievable story with us, adding that the mechanics team struggled to remove the defect on the spot. However, when the technicians found out that resolving the problem in the desert was beyond their power, they went back to bivouac for a 6x6 and set off on a rescue mission to bring the special back. This is another slap in the face for MKR Technology on their journey to a Dakar success. “When you want to succeed in a race as extreme as Dakar and a competitive environment like this, you must constantly improve your technology, work on its development and make it more resistant. For a second time already, new configuration of the engine has not worked for us, though we were convinced it would perform well,” explained Mario Kress why the team has hit the rocks once again. “I admit it was a bold move, but we were aware of it from the start. The main reason why we’re disappointed is that just a week before the rally, we gave rides to more than eight hundred Renaut Trucks customers in Slovakia. Technically, in terms of kilometres we completed one whole rally without any trouble. We had a promising start, but at the end of the day, you need luck on your side during a race like this and we didn’t have it,” commented Mario Kress with disappointment.
However, the team don’t give up. They got down to work on further innovations with renewed intensity. “We have conducted a series of tests and we’re comparing the benefits of every change, monitoring how the engine operates in specific modes under given conditions. Following, we evaluate the level of risk involved in every setting. It has proven wise that taking a step back is sometimes better in order to be able to take two steps forward later, but a year of preparations is actually very short time, so then each failure, like this one in Morocco, is all the more emotional for everyone. Fortunately, we have the time to put together ideal setting for the Dakar now,” mentioned Mario Kress, reminding us that he is about to start testing a second truck in the French Alps this week.
