The Dakar Arrives at the Mountains, Pascal Still on Ninth

9.1.2016

Even after the crews entered the mountains Pascal de Baar easily maintains his position in the elite ten of the trucks’ category. The Dutch pilot driving a Renault from the North Bohemia based MKR Technology has been successfully dealing with the altitude as well. In stage six he finished on nineteenth place and sticks to his ninth rank overall.

„We’re in an altitude of more than four thousand metres. These are extreme conditions not only for the human body, but also for the technology. It is right here where those who are new to Dakar struggle the most. In terms of technology development, we’re halfway through and you can see it especially in the mountains. I know that our engine does not thrive in high revolutions given the rarefied atmosphere here. We have to work on that still, but it’s nothing that would surprise us, just the result is not ideal. It is important that Pascal gets over the mountains without bigger trouble, so that he can repeat the results from the previous stages afterwards,“ described Mario Kress, MKR Technology’s chief constructor, the current news from the world’s toughest rally. 

In the Friday’s sixth stage the crews had to tackle a pretty fast special section of 295 km. The track took them around the Uyuni salt flat and the birthplace of Bolivia’s acting president Evo Morales. Basically the entire time the crews were driving in the altitude between three and a half and four kilometres above the sea level. However, Pascal de Baar lost only fifteen minutes on his fellow countryman and the last winner of the Dakar organized in Europe Hans Stacey, eventually finishing on nineteenth place. Thanks to his stage win Stacey got to the lead of the overall ranking, with Versluis losing 59 seconds on him. Mammoet’s pilot de Baar is on ninth place, with one-hour gap behind the leader. 

In Saturday’s stage seven from Uyuni to Salta this year’s Dakar is coming to its half, after which the competitors will have a day off. However, it will be a tough way to get there. The crews have to tackle a distance of more than eight hundred kilometres. The special section has three hundred and thirty-six kilometres. They’ll have to negotiate riverbeds, cross the Bolivian-Argentinian border and most importantly, there’s the high altitude again, which is going to get even more extreme. Almost all of the special section takes place above the altitude of four kilometres and the crews will even reach 4700 m above the sea level.