Punctured tires slowed down the leading truck
15.4.2019
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They went for the podium again, but the punctured tires stopped them. The crew of the North-Bohemian truck with the on-board mechanic from Roudnice took tenth position in the second stage of Morocco Desert Challenge.
“The cars are well prepared and we started the stage very fast. We stayed in first position for a long time, but maybe we should have slowed down a bit on the stony fields where we broke the tire and after five minutes we had to stop and change it again, ”said the on-board mechanic Daniel Kozlovský, adding that the punctured tires were not the only troubles. "In addition, we fought a bit with navigation. There are many paths in Morocco and it is very easy to make a mistake. Gert Huzink was having issues with navigation as well, ”said Kozlovský, Marin van den Brink's companion in one of the Renault Trucks crews.
Stage 2 brought crews to Moroccan Sahara. On a four-hundred-kilometre-long route from Abetteh to Smara, there was a number of winding fast paths with countless passages across sandy beaches and white plains. Belarussian driver Viazovich with MAZ tackled the route as the fastest driver. Martin van den Brink's crew was on the tenth place with a gap o a less than half an hour. Twentieth place was taken by his colleague Gert Huzink. “I have to admit that it was very hard for me. For a long time I hadn't sat in a car race and I can feel it. The 200-kilometre prologue was still fun, but I was suffering like hill on those four hundred kilometres. But the organization of the race is simply great. The organizers think more of the crews and after two hundred kilometres there is a half-hour break, when you can eat, recover, and always check the car. It's not like Dakar, where bikers collapse in the heat, because they have no place to drink, ”saidKozlovský.
Dutchman Voerman got into the lead after the second stage. Martin van den Brink, with Renault from Židovice is fourth in the leaderboard and Gert Huzink has tumbled down to 13th.
Monday's stage 3 from Smara to Assa measures 372 kilometres. Crews can look forward to a brand new route with a sandy and very hard surface, a valley
full of trees and animals as if they were on an African savannah. In addition, dried salt lakes or compulsory military checkpoints will also be on the course.
