Huzink's chassis cracked after a hard crash

13.1.2022

Three days before the finish, a hybrid special from northern Bohemia of the MKR Technology team is done in Dakar. The same as Aleš Loprais' truck, Gert Huzink's crew paid for the treacherous dune in the 10th stage of the famous long-distance race. The hard and unexpected impact of the truck literally broke the chassis in two. But the crew is ok. The second of the trucks with pilot Pascal de Baar continues in the race.

"It must have been an unbelievable blow, but the most important thing right now is that nothing happened to the crew. The truck crashed at a hundred-kilometer speed when the crew did not assess correctly one of the treacherous dunes at the beginning of the stage. It surprised them so much that after a hard impact, the chassis cracked right behind the cabin" said Mario Kress, chief designer of the Dakar special truck, recalling the moment from the previous day, when the dune, on which the sun shines vertically and racers do not see any shadow, similarly surprised the second crew of Renault truck with Pascal de Baar. While in his case the crew sustained the impact and the machinery prevailed, on Wednesday Huzink's team was not so lucky. And it wasn't the only victim of the day. The ambitions of the Czech crew with Aleš Loprais also ended up on a similar dune. "The only thing that is positive is that nothing happened to the crew. This accident only showed how safe the race truck is built, because despite a hard impact, the cabin remained intact and fortunately the crew got out without any damage," Mario Kress and his entire team were relieved.

Just three days before the finish, the efforts of one half of the Dutch team Riwald Dakar, which had ambitions to reach the elite ten, have ended. Despite the misfortune in the opening stage, the crew and Gert Huzink still tried to get closer to it, but Wednesday's 10th stage gave stopped the historically first hybrid special in the competition for good. However, the second of the Renault trucks from MKR Technology workshop continues in the race. Pascal de Baar tackled three-hundred-and-seventy-five-kilometers long stage from Wadi Ad Dawasir to Bisha in twelfth time. In the second part of the stage, he missed one of the waypoints, had to go back and because of that he dropped out of the elite ten. "It's a pity, but fortunately Pascal arrived to the bivouac without major problems - so all we have to do is change the tires, the rear differential, the slightly damaged fenders and, of course, the overall inspection," Mario Kress added.

Wednesday stage was dominated by the overall leader Russian Sotnikov. After Loprais' accident, Sotnikov is followed by colleagues from Kamaz - Nikolaev, Shibalov and Karginov. The Dutchman with Mario Kress truck is currently sixteenth.

There are two stages to go in this year's 44th edition of Dakar. The penultimate stage is a five-hundred-kilometer loop with both start and finish in Bisha with an almost three hundred and fifty kilometers long timed section. However, the organizers promise the most technically challenging section this year - all types of dunes and sands will be on the show. They will reach the finish line on Friday after reaching Jeddah.