LOPRAIS CHANGES FROM TATRA TO PRAGA.

About the Praga vehicle: https://www.novinky.cz/auto/rallye-dakar/clanek/slavna-vejtraska-ma-nastupce-loprais-s-ni-pojede-dakar-40302824

The name Loprais has long been synonymous with success on the Dakar. Karel Loprais won six titles in the trucks between 1988 and 2001, which makes him the third-most decorated participant in history after Stephane Peterhansel (13) and Vladimir Chagin (7). Karel’s brother Milan later set up the private Loprais Tatra team and encouraged his son Ales to join him in the family business. Having put aside his law studies to focus on his growing passion for rally raid, Ales made his Dakar debut as a navigator for his uncle Karel in 2006. He then enjoyed a superb first outing behind the wheel in 2007, winning Stage 13 and finishing third overall behind Hans Stacey and Ilgizar Mardeev. The 39-year-old has enjoyed mixed fortunes ever since, failing to finish the rally six times, but making it into the top seven on the five occasions that he has gone all the way. Ales’ nine Dakar stage wins demonstrate that he is one of the fastest truck drivers out there, but reliability has often been his Achilles heel on the world’s toughest rally. For this 2020 edition, renowned Czech manufacturers Praga have provided him with a brand-new V4S DKR, an updated version of their famous V3S model. With his usual navigator Ferran Marco Alcayna joining Albert Llovera’s crew this year, Ales has teamed up with Khalid Alkendi of the UAE, with whom he raced the Silk Way Rally in 2017. The Dubai native has completed the Dakar three times in a car with Abdulla Alheraiz and won the 2017 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge with Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi, and his in-depth knowledge of the region should prove invaluable for the InstaForex Loprais Team in Saudi Arabia. Mechanic Petr Pokora also returns as the private outfit look to give the factory teams a run for their money and improve on an impressive fifth place last time out. Who knows, there could even be a Loprais back on the top step of the Dakar podium for the first time in almost 20 years…

A.L.: “Last year we had a lot of small, everyday issues, particularly with injection troubles in the engine, but in the end we made it. We weren’t able to go exactly as we wanted, we didn’t win any stages, but we still had a couple of very nice days and did a good job finishing fifth. Now we have a new truck based on the Tatra chassis, with a new cab, new engine, new shock absorbers. We’ve developed in areas where we were losing time. We’ve got a new partner, Praga, which is really well-known Czech brand. They were established in 1907, so they’re one of the country’s oldest brands. They’ve mostly been focusing on super sports and aeroplanes, but now they want to enter the truck field again. We’re happy they’ve chosen us as a partner to promote the V4S, the new version of their famous V3S offroad truck. Hopefully we’ll be able to have a nice race and compete against the likes of Kamaz, Maz and Iveco. That’s the spirit of Dakar: privateers matching the factory teams. It’s our destiny! My really great friend Ferran Marco asked if he could have an adventure this year with a friend of his who is paralysed, Albert Llovera. They’re going with Iveco. So we agreed, and I teamed up again with Khalid. He’s a local driver and navigator who knows the terrain and speaks Arabic. We’ve been friends for a while, so it was quite an easy decision. I’m feeling positive about Saudi Arabia. I’ve been to the UAE quite a bit for testing and I know the terrain is similar. But as always, the Dakar is so difficult, and there are so many minor issues that can decide the race. I’m staying positive but keeping my feet on the ground, because the Dakar is the Dakar! We haven’t raced this year,we’ve just been working on the new truck. As a private team it’s a long-term project. With testing and developing we don’t have the time or the technical structure to race as well. It’s a big success to get a completely new truck ready within a year. It’s still a family game, there are many Lopraises in the team! Even my five-year-old son is already visiting the garage, coming in and saying, ‘what the hell is going on here?’ I think we may have a new boss in the family!”

Loprais’ changemeant that just three Tatras will compete in this year’s Dakar. The models are well-known.  There is a Buggyra-Tatra and two Jamal-Tatras from the Bonver team.

The rally has moved from Southern America to Saudia Arabia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Dakar_Rally

TRUCK COMPETITORS

500 NIKOLAEV EDUARD RUS IAKOVLEV EVGENII RUS RYBAKOV VLADIMIR RUS KAMAZ KAMAZ – MASTER
501 SOTNIKOV DMITRY RUS AKHMADEEV RUSLAN RUS AKHMETZIANOV ILGIZ RUS KAMAZ KAMAZ – MASTER
502 LOPRAIS ALES CZE POKORA PETR CZE ALKENDI KHALID ARE PRAGA INSTAFOREX LOPRAIS TEAM
503 VIAZOVICH SIARHEI BLR HARANIN PAVEL BLR ZAPAROSHCHANKA ANTON BLR MAZ MAZ-SPORTAUTO
504 MACIK MARTIN CZE TOMASEK FRANTISEK CZE SVANDA DAVID CZE IVECO BIG SHOCK RACING
505 VAN KASTEREN JANUS NLD VAN HOOF FRANK NLD VAN DEN BOSCH ERWIN NLD IVECO PETRONAS TEAM DE ROOY IVECO
506 VAN DEN BRINK MARTIN NLD DE GRAAFF WOUTER NLD VAN DEN BRINK MITCHEL NLD RENAULT MAMMOET RALLYSPORT
507 HUZINK GERT NLD BUURSEN ROB NLD ROESINK MARTIN NLD RENAULT RIWALD DAKAR TEAM
508 VASILEVSKI ALEKSANDR BLR VIKHRENKA DZMITRY BLR MURYLEV VITALI BLR MAZ MAZ-SPORTAUTO

https://www.dakar.com/en/competitor/509
509 SOLTYS MARTIN CZE ŠIKOLA TOMÁŠ CZE SCHOVANEK DAVID CZE TATRA TATRA BUGGYRA RACING

https://www.dakar.com/en/competitor/510
510 SZUSTKOWSKI ROBERT POL KAZBERUK JAROSLAW POL SKROBANEK FILIP CZE TATRA FESH FESH TEAM / R-SIXTEAM
511 KARGINOV ANDREY RUS MOKEEV ANDREY RUS LEONOV IGOR RUS KAMAZ KAMAZ – MASTER
512 SUGAWARA TERUHITO JPN MOCHIZUKI YUJI JPN SOMEMIYA HIROZAKU JPN HINO HINO TEAM SUGAWARA
514 DE BAAR PASCAL NLD VAN DER VAET JAN BEL SLOOTJES STEFAN NLD RENAULT RIWALD DAKAR TEAM
515 BEHRINGER MATHIAS DEU HENKEN STEFAN DEU TBA TBA MAN SOUTH RACING
516 SHIBALOV ANTON RUS NIKITIN DMITRII RUS TATARINOV IVAN RUS KAMAZ KAMAZ – MASTER
517 LLOVERA ALBERT AND PETERS RAMON NLD MARCO ALCAYNA FERRAN ESP IVECO PETRONAS TEAM DE ROOY IVECO
518 BELLINA CLAUDIO ITA MINELLI GIULIO ITA GOTTI BRUNO ITA DAF ITALTRANS
519 HANAWA IKUO JPN HANAWA YUDAI JPN KEZUKA MAYUMI JPN HINO HINO TEAM SUGAWARA

https://www.dakar.com/en/competitor/521
521 GARROUSTE PATRICE FRA ALMASI PETR CZE GOSPODARCZYK SZYMON POL TATRA FESH FESH TEAM
522 VERSTEIJNEN VICTOR WILLEM CORNE NLD VAN DER SANDE ANDREAS WILHELMUS MICHIEL MARIUS
NLD VAN DAL TEUN NLD IVECO PETRONAS TEAM DE ROOY IVECO

523 JUVANTENY JORDI ESP CRIADO JOSE LUIS ESP DOMENECH XAVIER ESP MAN EPSILON
524 DE GROOT RICHARD NLD RAPH VAN DEN ELSHOUT NLD JAN HULSEBOSCH NLD RENAULT FIREMEN DAKAR TEAM
525 ZUURMOND GERRIT NLD RIEZEBOS JASPER NLD KWAKKEL KLAAS NLD MAN RAINBOW TRUCK TEAM
526 CALABRIA PAOLO ITA CALUBINI LORIS ITA FORTUNA GIUSEPPE ITA MAN OROBICA RAID
527 VAN DE LAAR JAN NLD VAN DE LAAR BEN NLD HUIJGENS ADOLPH NLD DAF FRIED VAN DE LAAR RACING
528 VISHNEUSKI ALIAKSEI BLR NOVIKAU MAKSIM BLR NEVIAROVICH ANDREI BLR MAZ MAZ-SPORTAUTO
529 HERRERO ALBERTO ESP ROMERO LORENZO JULIO ESP TBA TBA MAN TH-TRUCKS
530 WIGMAN ED NLD EBBERS JOEL NLD SCHATORIE HENDRIK ELISABERT NLD MAN RIWALD DAKAR TEAM
531 BECX MICHIEL NLD DER KINDEREN BERNARD NLD KUIJPERS EDWIN NLD IVECO PETRONAS TEAM DE ROOY IVECO
532 AL SUDAIRY TURKI MOHAMMED SAU BENBEKHTI SAMIR DZA TBA TBA MAN AL SUDAIRY
533 DE GROOT WILLIAM NLD VAN DE LANGENBERG EDWIN NLD SCHUURMANS HENRICUS NLD DAF TEAM DE GROOT
534 IBRAHM ALMUHNA SAU OSAMA AL SANAD SAU RAED ABO THEEB SAU UNIMOG IBRAHIM ALMUHNA
535 RANDYSEK ROBERT CZE GILBERT ERICK FRA THALGOTT GEOFFREY FRA MAN PH-SPORT
536 CABINI ANTONIO ITA VERZELETTI GIULIO ITA TBA TBA MERCEDES OROBICA RAID
537 ROBINEAU THOMAS FRA CAZERES JEAN-FRANCOIS FRA TBA TBA IVECO TEAM BOUCOU
538 STRIEBE ROBERT DEU ECHTER HANS DEU TBA TBA MAN SOUTH RACING
539 TIBAU MAYNOU RAFAEL ESP INVERNON BARDIA RAMON MARIA ESP TBA TBA MAN TH-TRUCKS
540 RICKLER DEL MARE CESARE GIANFRANCO ITA BURAN DRAGOS RAZVAN ROU TBA TBA IVECO R TEAM
541 ESTEVE ORO JORDI ESP MARTI FLIX ENRIC ESP NING YUE CHN MERCEDES QIAN’AN JIU JIANG LANDSAIL RACING CLUB
543 GONZALEZ RICHARD FRA SALVIAT JEAN-PHILIPPE FRA TBA TBA DAF SODICARS RACING
545 COCKBURN JOHN GBR ALRAMMAH TARIQ SAU TBA TBA RENAULT STA COMPETITION
546 GINESTA JORDI AND DARDAILLON MARC FRA TBA TBA MAN TEAM BOUCOU
547 BESNARD SYLVAIN FRA VITSE ANTOINE FRA LALICHE SYLVAIN FRA MAN TEAM SSP
548 MARTINS JOSE PRT TBA TBA TBA TBA DAF TEAM BOUCOU
549 BENBEKHTI AHMED DZA OSMANI RAMZI DZA TBA TBA MAN SODICARS RACING
550 DE LEEUW TOM BEL BERGHMANS DAVE BEL TBA TBA IVECO OVERDRIVE TOYOTA