Van den Brink‘s differential failed in the dunes
14.1.2020
Photo gallery
Total 3
|
|
|
Martin van den Brink, North Bohemian truck driver, got a dose of bad luck. His Renault was affected by issues with differential in Stage 8 of the Dakar Rally and remained trapped in sand dunes for several long hours.
The eighth day of the world's most prestigious rally happened as a tribute to the Portuguese biker Paul Goncalves, who died after the accident during Sunday's 7th stage. For the category of motorcycles and quads, Monday's stage was canceled due to these reasons and the whole bivouac kept a minute of silence. “These are moments those that no one wants to experience. Dakar is different this year, very fast. It has always been dangerous, but in every incident, you realize that we are on the edge of life and death, and so we are happy to make it to the finish line, even though we are still waiting for some success this year. We are not trying not to take any risks, but to a certain extent you simply cannot avoid it in this race,” said Mario Kress, head of the design team at MKR Technology.
In the eighth act, trucks and cars had to take a timed loop of nearly four hundred and eighty kilometers with the start and finish in Wadi Al Dawasir. The crews had to cover almost seven hundred and twenty kilometers. While Russian Karginov celebrated the golden stage hat-trick, as he won the third consecutive stage and strengthened his position as the leader of the truck race, Dutch pilot Martin van den Brink on the other hand remained trapped on the course for several hours with problems with his rear differential. On the contrary, his fellow countrymen driving other three trucks by MKR Technology are already preparing for the next day in the bivouac. Pascal de Baar crossed the finish line as the twelfth in the ranking, losing around half an hour to the leader, Richard de Groot with the cab-over-engine Renault K520 was three positions behind him and Gert Huzink with the hybrid was classified 21st. "It's amazing how everyone is fighting with the course, and above all, how Gert's crew is coping with everything with just two persons without an onboard mechanic," Mario Kress said in awe.
After eight racing days, Russian Karginov is leading. The second Shibalov is down the ranking with more than hour gap. Van den Brink lost his eleventh place after problems on the course. Richard de Groot is the best from the North Bohemian MKR Technology team on the fourteenth position.
On Tuesday, the longest stage of this year's program is on the menu. Crew have to cover almost eight hundred ninety kilometers from Wadi Al Dawasir to Haradh track. Timed section is exactly four hundred and ten kilometers long and the crews will go on almost every surface.
