With silver, Van den Brink completed his medal collection

19.4.2018

Winning silver in the 4thstage, the north-Bohemian MKR Technology team completed its medal collection on Maroko Desert Challenge. The second place, up to now missing for the team, was reached by dutch pilot Martin van den Brink that was beaten only by Aleš Loprais and just due to getting stuck in the dunes.

            „Martin drove really quickly today, but his team bog down in the dunes for half an hour. He was helped by Janus, making him a fast assistance. Together they went through the dune area, but afterwards Janus had issues with the cooling. However, Martin could continue in a high speed, so in the end he lost just quarter an hour to winner Aleš,” described the stage evolution the mechanics from Roudnice, Daniel Kozlovský.

More than three hundred kilometers long 4^thstage to Fezou was exceptionally varied again. The teams needed to fight their way through long periods of dunes in Chegaga, as well as with fine fesh fesh, even hard stony passes were not missing.“Stages are really rough, which is proved by the trucks` condition. Heavily stony and hard route gives them a hard time. We keep dealing with the consequences of something getting torn of somewhere. We have a bit of a problem with the cockpit placing at Martin`s vehicle. After each stage it is heavily battered. Today`s path was reflected on the results of Janus,”noticed Kozlovský, when telling that the pilot tore away the water cooler and the team was continuously loosing water and needed to refill it several times during the stage. In the past two days also the third team of Židovice Renault Trucks with the pilot Gert Huzink from Riwald Dakar team was dealing with a torn cardan. “Every day we work non-stop and make the repairs up till morning. Today it will be the same. Janus` motor was boiling, so we are trying to fix everything. It is tough even for us mechanics. We try to get some rest on the road then, but the hairpin turns do not let us. Luckily the transitions are not as long as on Dakar,”the mechanics from Roudnice looks for small positives.

            Though facing the difficulties of the racing route, the north-bohemian trucks were second, eleventh and fifteenth in the fourth day of the race. In the overall ranking Loprais increased his lead slightly, second Marin van den Brink looses a bit more than half an hour. Van Kasteren is twelfth, Gert Huzink eighteenth. 

            The race now enters its second half. Fifth out of eight stages will lead the teams from Fezou to Mergouza. Less than three hundred kilometers will be a typical desert. Sand plains to Marabout, canyon to Mharech, dunes of Ouzia and a first crossing of Erg Chebbi, magical desert of orange hills, where the highest fascinating dunes can reach even hundred and fifty metes.