North Bohemian trucks were fighting for top ten

14.1.2021

Trucks from the North Bohemian team MKR Technology competed for the elite ten today. The Dutch pilots of the Czech Renault trucks arrived close to each other in the 10th stage of the Dakar Rally. This time Pascal de Baar was better than Martin van den Brink.

"Today we were flying. It was a fast stony stage. We would much rather be in the dunes, this is just destroys the machinery and hurting the crew. Our navigator was suffering like hell, so we are glad that another part is behind us" said Daniel Kozlovský, onboard technician of Martin van den Brink’s crew.

The Dutch driver of the Mammoet Rallysport team finished the 10th stage just behind the elite ten. His colleague, Pascal de Baar from Riwald Dakar team just made it into the top ten. One of the shorter stages was on the menu. The stage from Neom to Al-ʻUla was less than six hundred kilometers long, and its timed special section was "only" three hundred and fifty kilometers long. The Czech pilot Martin Macík, coped best with it again. For him it was back-to-back stage victory. "Congratulations to Martin. It's great to see how he sent it and he is getting better and better. Of course, it's very nice to see the Czech colors win over the Russian ones. It's always a big boost when you manage to defeat a fleet of Kamaz trucks. They have traditionally dominated this race and now are on a completely different level, so everyone in our team is cheering for Martin," Daniel Kozlovský praised the Czech rival on behalf of the MKR Technology team.

The gaps in the 10th stage were minimal – just a couple of minutes. There were no changes in the overall ranking. Russian Sotnikov is still in the lead. Martin van den Brink is in eighth place and Pascal de Baar in 11th place. There are last two stages to go to the finish line and this year's 43rd Dakar Rally is slowly becoming a thing of the past. The penultimate 11th stage was supposed to be significantly the longest this year, but in the end it was shortened by some fifty kilometers. In total, the route from Al-Ula to Yanbu should be six hundred kilometers and the timed special four hundred and sixty-four. The dunes will return again, which can increase the gaps between the competitors. "Martin likes dunes. Pilots are enjoying themselves. If you want to drive on hard rocky sections, you don't have to drive a Dakar, to which the sand simply should belong. Martin has just to slow down a bit because our injured navigator is suffering terribly. But we are one team and we have to adapt. Will not drive all out, but thanks to that we should not lose too much, the finish line is approaching," Daniel Kozlovský is looking forward to the destination city of Jeddah.