MKR with Mammoet triumph in the Libya Rally
21.4.2016
A dream come true! The truck constructed by the North Bohemia based MKR Technology lands at the top of the overall ranking in this year’s Libya Rally in Morocco. The crew of the Dutch pilot Martin van den Brink and MKR’s very own crew mechanic Daniel Kozlovský dominated in the last, seventh stage! Following four consecutive wins the trio made their way up to the top and are taking home a precious victory from Africa.
“At the very beginning it was the organizers who got betrayed by the technology, then our problems with punched tyres came, along with the drop in ranking due to stupid penalty times. After stage three we were losing more than one and half hours on the lead but none of us stopped believing in success. It was in our as well as our technology’s power to erase even a loss that big and reach for an overall victory. All we needed was more focus, stop making unnecessary mistakes and, above all, keep pushing. And now we’re in the finish as winners. I’m really proud of what the whole team have achieved,“ commented the noticeably moved Mario Kress, chief constructor of the racing special built for the Dutch pilot Martin van den Brink and his Mammoet Rallysport team in MKR Technology’s Židovice workshop.
If the Renault Trucks racing special number 501 was going to win, it had to catch up with Bouwens (Belgium) on iveco, who was leading by a margin of twenty-two and half minutes exactly. “I think that the whole thing was most stressful for our co-pilot. The roads here in Morocco are more intricate than at the Dakar, so hitting the right one involved a great deal of stress. The tension in the cabin was tangible. We lost our way even this time. When we saw iveco overtaking us after the first twenty kilometres, we knew that we were not allowed to hesitate again, because for every hesitation costs you time. Paradoxically, we didn’t win precious minutes in the fast sections, but rather in the concluding, more technical ones. Our truck simply thrived on those. We could definitely lean on the technology here,“ praised MKR Technology’s mechanic Daniel Kozlovský the “baby” born in his team’s workshop.
Once again, the Dutch-Czech crew managed to finish the 200km stretch ending at the Mediterranean Sea as the fastest one. In total, the team collected four stage wins, yet it was the time what decided about the overall victory. The truck from North Bohemia won by eight minutes and five seconds over the Belgian Igor Bouwens’ crew. “We were really incredibly lucky. Our truck was literally flying above the track, we managed to test everything we wanted and we’re excited that all the technology worked well. We’re going home tomorrow, so there’ll even be some time for a small party,“ summed up Daniel Kozlovský with a happy smile.
