Van Kasteren did not make it to the start, Huzink ranked as a fifth

18.1.2018

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Both good and bad news came to the designer team of MKR Technology during the 11th stage of Dakar Rally. While Janus van Kasteren`s truck did not manage to get to the start of the stage due to technical issues, the situation was saved by Gerd Huzink ranking as a fifth in the difficult stage.

“Everyone is working on more than hundred percent, but we still struggle with time and tough conditions. Our toughness and great deployment of all the team members is just not enough in this extreme, so we did not manage to remedy Janus` truck and therefore we were not in time for the start of 11^th stage, which means the end of the rally for Janus. However, it is great that the mood could be improved by the other truck result, that shows that when a right combination comes, we can make the result. But we can do more,” noticed Mario Kress, leading designer of Renault trucks from Židovice.

The 11^th stage was therefore not for Janus van Kasteren after his problems with transmission. On the route from Belén to Chilecito with total of almost seven hundred fifty kilometers even the main favorites were in trouble. Russian Nikolaev lost his overall lead during the two hundred eighty timed kilometers as he lost almost forty five minutes to the stage winner, Belarussian Vjazovič. Just a minute after him finished Villagra from Argentina and moved straight to the overall lead. Gerd Huzink on Renault moved from the thirteenth to the fifth position and in overall ranking he closes the top ten.

During the twelfth racing stage from Fiambala to San Juan a longest timed section of this 40^th year`s Dakar awaits the teams. Over five hundred twenty kilometers take place in the mountains and the teams cross the line of 3,600 meters altitude. Because of the rocky road and hundreds of turns the organizers advice to hold tight the ‘road book’ and keep the mental strength.        

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