Renaults stand their ground at the Dakar, Pascal finishes on sixth place
6.1.2017
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A stage of truth. That would be a proper label for the fourth stage of the 38th year of the world’s most famous rally, the legendary Dakar. In it Pascal de Baar racing with a Czech truck from MKR Technology’s workshop attracted a lot of attention with sixth rank, though all eyes were on his team-mate Martin van den Brink, because no one could be sure if he would start in this stage. Fortunately, the whole team pulled off a miracle, enabling the crew to complete the demanding stage without any major loss.
“It was really nerve-wrecking and an incredible fight against the clock. Up until the last moment we didn’t know if Martin would start. The technical trouble in stage three made us all sweat, and though we can’t think about a great overall result anymore, we’re still in the game, and that’s crucial,” commented Mario Kress, chief constructor of the Renault trucks from North Bohemia.
What actually happened? At first, the crew including the Roudnice based mechanic Daniel Kozlovský, who started from the first position in stage three as a leader of the overall ranking, had a hard time with the GPS navigation. The truck could not find the first checkpoint and lost almost ten minutes searching for it. The breaking point came however after the neutralization stage and start of the second section, when the truck suddenly lost power. Van den Brink’s crew stopped for long tens of minutes. “We found out we were not able to do anything about it. We didn’t identify the real cause, and so we had to continue to the finish and bivouac, where we arrived in early morning hours,” described Daniel Kozlovský, mechanic of truck number 506, the troublesome journey.
However, not even reaching the bivouac was the ultimate end. “There wasn’t the time to conduct a proper service. We did our best to get the truck ready for the start. Our goal for stage four was clear – survive. That worked out,” said the relieved Kress.
Stage four took the teams from Argentina to Bolivia and ascended to the mountains. For the next six days high altitude is going to be a strain on the people but also technology. In the fourth special stage from San Salvador to Tupiza, which stretched over four hundred kilometres, sand dunes came to the racers’ way. A number of pilots had issues with the navigation and effects of the thinner air started to show. However, Renaults from the MKR Technology centre succeeded in this test. Pascal de Baar shined, arriving on sixth place, and Martin van den Brink finished on fourteenth rank. The winner was the former Dakar champion Gérard de Rooy on iveco. “I thought Pascal might make it up to us, dunes are his favourite,” smiled Mario Kress.
The marathon stage in the mountains stirred up the overall ranking again. The leading position is now occupied by the Russian Sotnikov and Mammoet Rallsport‘s Pascal de Baar climbed up to seventh rank. As a result of the huge time loss, his colleague van den Brink is now on fortieth place.
“The crucial thing is we’re still in the game. Pascal has a good chance of a solid overall ranking and Martin can try for a stage success. We have to get to work now and return the technology to the best possible shape in the meantime. Dakar is treacherous but we can fight it and we’re not going to lay down our weapons ahead of time,” encourages the team Mario Kress.
Stage five from Tupiza to Orura is seven hundred kilometres long, out of which four hundred and forty are timed. In fact, the teams are about to experience one of the most exhausting days of this year’s Dakar. The crews are going to drive on Bolivia’s Altiplan, a vast plateau dividing the mountains of the West and East Andes. It is the second largest formation of this type on Earth. Moreover, final kilometres will be even harder due to two sections of dunes.
Dakar 2017
Results – stage 4 (San Salvador de Jujuy-Tupiza, 416 km):
1. de Rooy (Ned) Iveco 4:55:55
2. Mardeev (Rus) Kamaz +0:30
3. Shibalov (Rus) Kamaz +3:07
4. Sotnikov (Rus) Kamaz +7:37
5. Villagra (Arg) Iveco +16:37
6. de Baar (Ned) Renault Trucks +19:10
14. van den Brink (Ned) Renault Trucks +42:20
27. Llovera (And) Tatra +2:43:35
Overall ranking:
1. Sotnikov (Rus) Kamaz 11:12:40
2. Villagra (Arg) Iveco +1:55
3. Nikolaev (Rus) Kamaz +4:40
4. Shibalov (Rus) Kamaz +5:34
5. de Rooy (Ned) Iveco +14:15
7. de Baar (Ned) Renault Trucks +17:17
27. Llovera (And) Tatra +4:51:14
40. van den Brink (Ned) Renault Trucks +17:48:10
