In the introductory stony stage, van den Brink finished eighth

3.1.2021

Initial real Dakar stage is over. Although one of the shortest stages was on the program, the words of the organizers, that it would be one of the more difficult stages, have come true. The hard stony surface brought numerous defects to many teams, including the North Bohemian trucks from the MKR Technology team. Despite these difficulties, Martin van den Brink with the Daniel Kozlovský, on-board technician from Roudnice, finished in the top ten, and two other colleagues just a bit further down the ranking.

 "It was a very difficult start. I must admit that I suffered a lot. My body could feel the two-year racing break. The beginning of the stage was sandy, but then came the sharp rocks. There were so many of them that I felt like we were driving on a ground full of broken glass. The car suffered and we had to stop for about ten minutes due to a minor defect," on-board mechanic Daniel Kozlovský described the course of the 1^st stage in Martin van den Brink's red truck.

It was his special truck that finished the best of the three trucks from Židovice. He finished in eighth place with a loss of twenty minutes to the victorious Russian Sotnikov with Kamaz. The other two North Bohemian Renaults from the workshop of Mario Kress and the MKR Technology team did not make it into the elite ten. Gert Huzink was classified as thirteenth and Pascal de Baar two positions behind him. "The boys had to stop more than once. Each of them had punctured the tire twice. In addition, they all agreed that they were slowed down by slower buggies and cars on the way, but that's just the way it is. It was a very rocky stage and virtually everyone was struggling. In addition, it was difficult to navigate," Mario Kress, chief designer and head of the MKR Technology team shared his feelings.

The first stage from Jeddah to Bisha measured a total of 345 kilometers, but the timed section was less than two hundred and eighty kilometers. It was the second shortest special section of this year's 43^rd edition. But in terms of difficulty, it was one of the harder ones. Monday's 2^nd stage from Bisha to Wadi Ad-Dawasir, has a total length of just over six hundred and twenty kilometers, including almost four hundred and sixty kilometers of timed sections. "After all these years in Sherpa, Martin is still looking for the typical front, but the new truck no longer has it, but otherwise he gets along well with it and is already starting to push it real hard. Although we are driving still on the safer side, I feel the adrenaline and we are looking forward to next stages,"Daniel Kozlovský from the truck with start number 506 is full of optimism.