Pascal on 5th rank after stage five of the Dakar as stage six gets cancelled

8.1.2017

The Dutch Gérard de Rooy recorded a second consecutive stage win at the Dakar, winning Friday’s special and jumping up to the lead of the famous rally. However, also his fellow countrymen racing on Renaults from the North Bohemia based MKR Technology. Indeed, Pascal de Baar now occupies fifth place in the overall ranking. At the weekend they will get an unexpected opportunity to take some rest. The cancelled Saturday stage will bring the teams the much needed time for service.

            “A lot of favourites from other categories had to end the race prematurely. The Dakar is merciless for everyone. We’re really lucky to be still in the game and although Martin cannot think about the longed-for bedouin, it’s very important for us to continue in the race. The data and experience are priceless, so we will we will continue to do our best to make it to the finish and try for success in a stage. Nevertheless, Pascal is saving the day and that’s great. Hats off to his performance,” summed up the situation Mario Kress, author of the MKR Adventure project.

            Stage five from Tupiza to Oruro was one of the hardest in this year’s Dakar. It had almost seven hundred kilometres in total, out of which four hundred and forty were timed in two separate sections. The crews were driving on Altiplan, the Bolivian table land which separates the mountains of West and East Andes. It is the second largest formation of this type on Earth. The Dutch De Rooy tackled the sand dunes best of all, followed by Kamaz pilots Nikolaev and Mardeev. Pascal de Baar lost by half-an-hour margin and finished on twelfth place. Martin van den Brink completed the stage on fortieth place almost six hours after the winner, as the crew was not able to sort out the problem with technology and his special lacks the necessary power. “Pascal assumed the team leader’s role very well. Thanks to that, in spite of all the issues we have been dealing with, the team spirits are high. No one is slowing down and it is still a valuable experience for us,” commented Kress.  

            De Rooy moved up to the lead of the race. Behind him are three Russian Kamaz trucks with Nikolaev, Sotnikov and Mardeev behind the steering wheel, with Pascal de Baar from Mammoet Rallysport closely following them on rank five. Van den Brink is currently on forty-first place.

            Saturday schedule originally included the longest special of the whole rally. However, the crews drove the five hundred and thirteen kilometres without chronometers, after the area was flooded with water and the organizers cancelled the stage for bad weather. Consequently, everyone moved to the bivouac in La Paz, eight hundred kilometres far, where they can have a day off on Sunday. “Suddenly, we have two extra days which I wouldn’t probably call “free”, but we can use them to conduct a general service and put the trucks in the best possible shape. The weather is crazy and there’s a lot of water in the bivouac, which is definitely not an advantage, but we’re tough enough to handle that. We are going to fight and use the weekend to prepare for Monday and the last week,” concluded Mario Kress.

            On Monday the teams are about to race from La Paz to Uyuni in stage seven which stretches over 622 km. The timed section forms a half of the distance.