The Dakar crews are heading to the last stage

15.1.2021

Daniel Kozlovský, technician from Židovice, and Dutch pilot Martin van den Brink are heading with their Renault truck for their best Dakar result. Although the situation is not really good for them to improve in the last stage, the crew is alert and the second truck from MKR Technology with Pascal de Baar is in the same situation. There is only one stage left to the much awaited finish line.

"The penultimate stage is behind us. We started quite from behind and we were slowed down by the buggies, so combined with the fact that because of Wouter we didn't want to take any risks and go too much to the edge when overtaking, it wasn't ideal in terms of race time, but at the same time we had nothing to lose. In fact our tactic was to hold our position," remarked Daniel Kozlovský, the on-board technician of the red truck from MKR Technology team.

The penultimate 11th stage, six hundred kilometers long, went from Al-Ula to Yanbu. The Dutch-Czech finished the four-hundred and sixty-kilometer-long timed section on eleventh position, with three-quarters of an hour of a gap to the victorious Russian Shibalov. "Unlike Pascal, we had neither problems, nor punctures. He reached the finish line with a torn tire," Kozlovský described the finish. Even so, the second of the North Bohemian trucks with pilot Pascal de Baar managed to cross the finish line in the elite ten, in ninth place. "The last roughly seventy kilometers were soft sand and smaller dunes. In some places it was possible to surf on them nicely, but otherwise in the stage there were a lot of sections in canyons and dry riverbeds, where you need to have higher pressures in the tires so as not to cut through the sidewall. It's also harder for the crews," said Kozlovský, who praises the approach of both Dutch teams Riwald Dakar and Mammoet Rallysport, which are connected not only by the region, but especially by the trucks and technicians from MKR Technology. "The collaboration is amazing. During yesterday's neutralization, where service is allowed, the boys provided us with one tire that we needed to replace so that we would not have to reach out into the last supplies on the truck. Even in the transition area, you can have fun together. In my opinion, an excellent atmosphere is so important," Kozlovský praises his situation. His crew with van den Brink is in the eighth place. Pascal de Baar is holding eleventh and Russian Sotnikov is still in the lead.

Tomorrow, finally, the teams will be able rest. On Friday, the final 12th stage from Yanbu to Jeddah is on the menu. Out of the last four hundred and fifty kilometers, less than two hundred and thirty are timed. "I'm looking forward to it and I hope that we will have a pleasant crossing over the final ceremonial podium and then on Saturday, we go right to the airport," Daniel Kozlovský is looking forward to the finish line and is heading for his best result in the Dakar. So far, his best result was in 2015, when he finished 22nd with Kazakh Artur Ardavichus. Martin van den Brink, whose best result so far was eleventh place, is also heading into the elite ten for the first time.