Stellar Huzink with a hybrid in the top five

6.1.2022

The North Bohemian truck from the MKR Technology workshop recorded the best result so far in the 4th stage of Dakar. Dutch pilot Gert Huzink with his hybrid special truck finished the longest stage of this year in the fifth best time. However, his colleague de Baar had no reason to celebrate, as he remained damaged in the middle of the stage after a hard impact.

"Gert made a great result today. We are very happy about that, because we managed to put his truck back in shape, and then he overtook one opponent after another. But the feelings are mixed when thinking of Pascal. This year, each stage is the same - one is doing well and the other one is suffering, so they have taken turns so far. But I still want to believe that happy moments will come for both of them at the same time," Mario Kress, head of the MKR Adventure project, who is in charge of the construction of both racing trucks of the Dutch team Riwald Dakar, never loses hope.

Wednesday's 4th stage was the longest test of this year. The route led from Al Qaisumah to Riyadh and had 465 kilometers. These were preceded by a 200-kilometer connecting route and then another 140 km to the bivouac. Treacherous bumps made fast sections tricky. "After a few tense moments, we slowed down a bit. The route was unpredictable and accident was very close all the time" Huzink described the situation, when decided in the final part to push harder again. "The truck worked great and Pascal signaled to us that we couldn't help him at the moment. When we saw that we were on seventh place, only one minute behind fifth place, we took risk a bit and overtook Kamaz of Karginov Loprais' Tatra," said Huzink with satisfaction at the finish. Fifth time proves the speed of his hybrid special Renault C460.

While Gert Huzink had reason to rejoice, Pascal de Baar tried to temporarily repair the damaged steering arm after one of the impacts. His dream of a top ten in the overall standings began to evaporate. Although de Baar's crew has reportedly begun to move slowly to the Riyadh bivouac, any forecasts are too early. "His truck is very damaged and it's hard to say if we can fix everything during the night," added Mario Kress.

Russian Nikolaev won the stage and his compatriot Sotnikov is still in the lead of the overall standings. Gert Huzink moved with today’s performance into top 20. He is currently sixteenth.

During the 5th stage, the riders will head east of Riyadh and the surface itself will change dramatically. Hard dirt and stony roads will contribute to the difficulty, and in the end there are treacherous dunes again. The crews will end up in Riyadh again.