Pascal raises the team’s spirits and ranks in the top ten
6.1.2016
As if he wanted to prove that the Dakar is not yet over for the MKR Technology and Mammoet Rallysport teams after the team leader Martin van den Brink’s truck ended up in flames. His team mate Pascal de Baar finished on twelfth place in stage three and currently occupies tenth position in the overall ranking.
“Emotions have cooled down a little. All of us had a very tough night because what happened in stage two is not something you put easily behind. However, we never give up, so we decided to stop weeping and simply focus on the next steps, so that we can help Pascal achieve the best possible result. Nevertheless, Pascal has proven himself and cheered all of us up. We’re in the top ten and that’s exactly what we wanted,“ praised the Renault Dakar special’s chief constructor Mario Kress the second pilot of the Mammoet Rallysport team.
The complete track from Termas de Rio Hondo to Jujuy stretched over six hundred and fifty kilometres, with the measured section involving 314 km. Eventually, the organizers decided to cut also stage three short due to safety reasons. The premiere victory was recorded by Martin Kolomý, who beat the overall leader Dutch Stacey by 17 seconds. Pascal de Baar on Renault from the north-Bohemia’s MKR Technology crossed the finishing line with a nearly ten-minute margin. In the overall ranking he concludes the elite ten with a fifteen-minute loss on the leading crew of his fellow countryman Stacey.
Wednesday’s fourth episode starts and finishes in Jujuy. The loop measures more than six hundred kilometres, out of which four hundred and eighteen involve the special section. Once again, it will not be an easy test. The crews will be driving in the mountains at the altitude of three to four thousand metres above the sea level. Simultaneously, it will be the start of a two-day marathon without an access of the mechanics. The crews will have to rely only on themselves and their opponents‘ help. Moreover, the current bivouac is facing heavy rain again.
