Pascal on Ninth Place Following the Marathon Stage
8.1.2016
The Dakar Rally crews have tackled the marathon stage. While two days without the help from the mechanics put an end to Aleš Loprais’ participation in the race, Pascal de Baar on his Renault Trucks special by MKR Technology managed to return to the elite ten. After stage 5 he occupies ninth place in the overall ranking.
For two days, moreover in high altitudes that made one’s head spin and stomach turn, the crews had to do without any assistance from their mechanics and support teams. It was not easy, but the Mammoet Rallysport truck with the Dutch pilot Pascal de Baar dealt with all the obstacles admirably. The track from Jujuy to Uyuni stretched over almost six hundred and fifty kilometres. The special stage formed one half of the distance. After the crews left Argentina and crossed the border to Bolivia, they even attacked the altitude of four thousand seven hundred and fifty metres. Such heights were literally torturing not only the technology but mainly the teams’ bodies, as they had to fight the lack of oxygen. “ Working in such extreme conditions is no fun and everyone prays that nothing actually happens. Every extra move and performance costs incredible amount of energy. Your head spinning is not an exception, but the guys were ready for that, though adapting to this in such a short time is basically impossible,“ commented the MKR Adventure boss Mario Kress.
Apparently, Pascal de Baar was one to thrive in the extreme conditions. During the stage he worked his way up to tenth place, which he was able to maintain basically the whole time. Only in the last section he lost the pace and crossed the finishing line on fourteenth place, twenty-eight minutes after the Russian winner Nikolaev on kamaz. Thanks to that the Dutch pilot returned to top ten, where he now occupies ninth place. Another change took place in the lead of the overall ranking, which is led by Argentina’s Federico Villagra, who beat the Dutch Versluis by mere five seconds.
At the bivouac in Uyuni the crew finally met up with their mechanics team again. That this year’s Dakar is all sweat and tears is evidenced by the end of the Czech pilot Aleš Lopraid, who did not manage to start in time due to technical issues. “The Dakar is rough and uncompromising. You pay dearly for every mistake you make, I’ve learnt that myself. The more happy I am about Pascal though – he gave a tactical performance , bringing the truck save and sound to the bivouac, and with a great result on top of that. At the moment, we’ll have to undergo the typical, but very exhausting service, to prepare the truck for the next stages. Working when you know you belong to top ten is much more cheerful. However, there’s still a long and hard way to go at the Dakar, so we all have to work 100%,“ added the determined chief constructor Mario Kress.
Neither the Friday’s stage six will be relaxing. This time the trucks will go a special 300km track, on which they’re going to pass the birthplace of the current Bolivian president Evo Morales. The track will lead them around the Uyuni salt flat and the altitude will once again play a major role, as the racers will be driving between 3,500 and 4,500 metres. The stage both begins and ends in Uyuni, where the whole ensemble will spend „pleasant“ two days.
