Dakar 2016: Loprais comments on stage 2

I am glad that the today’s stage is already behind us. It was agony. Crazy heat, almost 50°C outdoors and almost 80°C in the cabin. I am still fighting with an illness, so I turn up the heating a little bit. Pretty harsh! However, the heat is with all of us. Our loss is 5.09 minutes to the winner, which is not much and the crunch will come somewhere else. This just shows how equal the competitors are this year and the differences are minimal. I am still getting to know the truck and I believe that we will be friends.

What awaits us tomorrow? The stage from SAN MIGUEL DE TUCAMAN to SAN SALVADOR DE JUJUY that measures a total of 757 km where the speed trial for the trucks will be 199 km long. We will rise up to the mountains, but the temperatures will pester us quite a lot.

The third stage is supposed to be absolutely off-road. There will be several crossings over river and each of them can bring about potential problems, especially in the estimate of depth and hidden traps in the form of stones. Simply Dakar …

Your support helps us. Greetings from Ales Loprais