There is no shortage of dramatic moments at the Dakar

1.1.2023

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This was not the start of the Dakar as expected. Even though it looked like Gert Huzink's truck would take silver, in the end he has not reached the podium, and all three North Bohemian Renaults had to deal with collisions in the 1st stage. There were even flames. But nothing serious happened to anyone and the technicians in the bivouac will try to prepare all the vehicles for the next stages.

"We certainly did not expect such a start to the competition. But that's exactly what Dakar can be. Things can change here every five minutes, but we will do our best to get the most out of the trucks," said Mario Kress after the hardships in the opening stage of the Dakar. Mario is a lead designer who prepared a trio of Renaults for this year's 45th edition of the famous competition

At the same time, the Dutch pilot Gert Huzink did excellently with the hybrid special truck. After Saturday's prologue, he started the race in ninth position and gradually worked his way up to the silver position. At the last waypoint, he was losing less than four minutes to the winning Czech Martin Macík and already started to believe in initial success. But he was thwarted by a tricky dune at the very end of the timed section. “Gert got stuck in a dune and lost almost an hour before he could repair the minor damage and get out. It's unfortunate, because otherwise everything worked perfectly," commented Mario Kress. "We drove at a very high pace: on the edge and sometimes a little over the edge, but everything was right. We drove for a long time in the dust after Martin van den Brink and then after Aleš Loprais. The second place seemed to be within reach, but we ended up in a dune basin with boulders. We were able to repair the puncture and damage we sustained as a result, but we were not able to get out of the basin on our own. We finally reached our destination quietly in the dark,” added Gert Huzink.

Gert Huzink was classified fourteenth. Both of his teammates were not so lucky. Pascal de Baar had to be pulled into the bivouac because his oil pipe cracked just after less than twenty kilometers after hitting a rock. In the process, the oil ignited and caused the truck to catch fire. But the crew was able to put it out with their own help. "We used four fire extinguishers before we managed to extinguish the flames," stated Pascal de Baar. But the damage was so big that the crew could not get into the bivouac on their own. So the chances for good position in general ranking are gone. "We will do our best so that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow Pascal can continue and try for at least stage success," said Mario Kress.

The third crew from the Riwald Dakar Team with pilot Adwin Hoondert is lying on its side in the dunes, trying to finish the stage on their own.

On Monday, the 2nd stage from Sea Camp to Alula awaits the crews. The stage is six hundred kilometers long, including almost three hundred and seventy kilometers of timed sections. The crews will reach altitude of over a thousand meters above sea level and will be able to see beautiful canyons and landscapes on the track. The stage will be decided in the dunes, but some of the majestic Nabatean temples will be visible on the horizon.

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