Browsing Racing & Rallying
Best Čech Wednesday’s marathon stage of the Rally Dakar Martin Kolomý collapsed from exhaustion at the finish. The brief loss of consciousness caused by dehydration and the pilot Tatras but soon recovered and nothing prevents its further attempt to fight the famous contest this year’s first medal position. In the middle was the second consecutive fourth at 657 kilometers measured section lost at the end of the fight for the bronze stage a minute and 14 seconds with the Russian Nikolaev.
“We tore the antenna and stopped us to operate the navigation system. Due to the fact we could not find the last way point and we lost about five minutes.’s A shame we have jumped on the box. Nevermind, more important is that the car keeps going and yet the great “Kolomý said in a press release Tatra Team Buggyra Racing. The nature of health problems is signed to the crew runs out of water. “So I came very dehydrated. Boys had to resuscitate me, but we did it thanks to a well-prepared nutritional and fluid intake,” he said.
Kolomému now belongs to eighth place with minimal loss to seventh Ales Loprais.
Best Čech Wednesday’s marathon stage of the Rally Dakar Martin Kolomý collapsed from exhaustion at the finish. The brief loss of consciousness caused by dehydration and the pilot Tatras but soon recovered and nothing prevents its further attempt to fight the famous contest this year’s first medal position. In the middle was the second consecutive fourth at 657 kilometers measured section lost at the end of the fight for the bronze stage a minute and 14 seconds with the Russian Nikolaev.
“We tore the antenna and stopped us to operate the navigation system. Due to the fact we could not find the last way point and we lost about five minutes.’s A shame we have jumped on the box. Nevermind, more important is that the car keeps going and yet the great “Kolomý said in a press release Tatra Team Buggyra Racing. The nature of health problems is signed to the crew runs out of water. “So I came very dehydrated. Boys had to resuscitate me, but we did it thanks to a well-prepared nutritional and fluid intake,” he said.
Kolomy is now eighth overall just behind Ales Loprais.
January 9th, 2014
|
9.1.2014
NEWSLETTER INSTAFOREX LOPRAIS TEAM
The fourth stage and further purgatory
Aleš Loprais started to the fourth stage from the third position after the Russian Alex Karginov and De Rooy from the Netherlands. But at the first waypoint of the marathon stage was Aleš recorded on the eighth place. However Aleš battled to the fifth places and most of the 650 km long run held at a range of the very fastest.
But after crossing the highest point of the stage, more than 3200 meters above sea level, Aleš began to fade. Between the eighth and ninth waypoint, approximately 500 km after the start of the special stage, he fell from sixth place to eighth and after eleventh waypoint he was the ninth. It was the loss of 23 minutes and 12 seconds to the winning De Rooy and the ninth place in he finish. In the overall ranking is Aleš on the seventh place and has a loss of an hour and nine minutes to De Rooy.
“Purgatory without 4×4 dust for the second time! We met the same problem in the longest stage of the current year. Tonight we will deal with it. A lot of trucks overtook us today. The attack on the podium has changed to struggle for survival on the Dakar – not to get stuck and reach the finish. Unfortunately we met another problem during the day – oil leaks from the oil pan. We had to refill oil in the neutralization zone to not stop the heart of the Queen. We are happy that we reached the finish and managed everything somehow. So our adventure continues!” commented Aleš Loprais and the 504 crew.
5th stage: Chilecito – Tucumán
The connecting section: 384 km / The special stage: 527 km
If one could say about the yesterday’s stage that was challenging and exhausting, then the same applies to today. It is the longest in this year and the measured part of 527 km is divided into two parts. To this must be added 154 km an 231 km of connecting section between the starting Chilecito and finish in Tucumán. The heat and sand is waiting for the racers. Organizers warn that the number of candidates to the podium will reduce in the bivouac in Tucumán and the elite group will be reduced too. Hopefully our two crews 504 and 519 will bravely fight on! |
|
Ing. Lucie Houthoofdtová
PR manager
|
January 9th, 2014
The best special in two or three years!
It was terrific! A terrific special, I think it’s the best one we’ve had in two or three years. We saw from the beginning that Karginov was too fast and we couldn’t keep up with him, so we decided to drive at our own pace, without taking any risks, especially with the tyres. Nevertheless, we were in the link section when we noticed a tyre was slowly deflating and we had to stop to change it. In the second part we overtook Karginov, who had stopped on the left side of the course with a flat tyre. We made a small navigation mistake towards the end, when everyone went right but you actually had to go left, but it was no big deal. The only mishap was when I bumped my left wrist against the steering wheel, but it’s nothing to be worried about: some ice, a cool bier and everything will be okay in time for tomorrow!
The Dakar’s competitors haven’t faced a special stage this long since the historical one from Zouerat to Tichit in 2005! They will have to cross rivers, descend the canyons in a Wild West setting and beware of the other participants: as these terrains are often wide open, it will be entirely possible to overtake fellow competitors.
Stage winner Gerard de Rooy: The best special in two or three years!
It was terrific! A terrific special, I think it’s the best one we’ve had in two or three years. We saw from the beginning that Karginov was too fast and we couldn’t keep up with him, so we decided to drive at our own pace, without taking any risks, especially with the tyres. Nevertheless, we were in the link section when we noticed a tyre was slowly deflating and we had to stop to change it. In the second part we overtook Karginov, who had stopped on the left side of the course with a flat tyre. We made a small navigation mistake towards the end, when everyone went right but you actually had to go left, but it was no big deal. The only mishap was when I bumped my left wrist against the steering wheel, but it’s nothing to be worried about: some ice, a cool bier and everything will be okay in time for tomorrow!
Best Tatra driver was Kolomy. He finished 10 min behind De Rooy. Loprais finished 23 min behind De Rooy
| Pos. |
N° |
Name |
Mark |
Time |
variation |
Penalty |
|
501 |
|
IVECO
|
06:06:40 |
- |
- |
|
506 |
|
KAMAZ
|
06:08:11 |
00:01:31 |
- |
|
500 |
|
KAMAZ
|
06:15:44 |
00:09:04 |
- |
|
502 |
|
TATRA
|
06:16:58 |
00:10:18 |
- |
|
507 |
|
IVECO
|
06:20:46 |
00:14:06 |
- |
|
508 |
|
MAN
|
06:24:03 |
00:17:23 |
- |
|
549 |
|
KAMAZ
|
06:26:01 |
00:19:21 |
- |
|
545 |
|
KAMAZ
|
06:26:02 |
00:19:22 |
- |
|
504 |
|
TATRA
|
06:29:52 |
00:23:12 |
- |
|
509 |
|
GINAF
|
06:34:16 |
00:27:36 |
- |
|
505 |
|
MAN
|
06:36:36 |
00:29:56 |
- |
|
529 |
|
MAZ
|
06:39:50 |
00:33:10 |
- |
|
510 |
|
MAN
|
06:41:12 |
00:34:32 |
- |
|
516 |
|
IVECO
|
06:44:09 |
00:37:29 |
- |
|
520 |
|
IVECO
|
07:25:00 |
01:18:20 |
- |
|
521 |
|
MAZ
|
07:37:19 |
01:30:39 |
- |
|
518 |
|
HINO
|
07:38:33 |
01:31:53 |
- |
|
525 |
|
LIAZ
|
07:42:47 |
01:36:07 |
- |
|
540 |
|
DAF
|
07:45:12 |
01:38:32 |
- |
|
548 |
|
GINAF
|
07:49:18 |
01:42:38 |
- |
|
534 |
|
MAN
|
07:58:56 |
01:52:16 |
- |
|
515 |
|
TATRA
|
07:59:33 |
01:52:53 |
- |
|
513 |
|
LIAZ
|
08:01:05 |
01:54:25 |
- |
|
539 |
|
TATRA
|
08:16:31 |
02:09:51 |
- |
|
527 |
|
MAN
|
08:40:43 |
02:34:03 |
- |
|
547 |
|
DAF
|
08:42:27 |
02:35:47 |
- |
|
533 |
|
MAN
|
08:50:31 |
02:43:51 |
- |
|
569 |
|
MAN
|
50:00:00 |
43:53:20 |
- |
|
574 |
|
RENAULT
|
50:00:00 |
43:53:20 |
- |
January 9th, 2014
 |
|
8.1.2014
NEWSLETTER INSTAFOREX LOPRAIS TEAM
How does it see Karel Loprais this year?
Monsieur Dakar, as is Karel Loprais called thanks to his six victories in the Dakar Rally, watches this year’s 36th Dakar Rally from home. What does the Dakar legend say about performance of his nephew Aleš?
Aleš was on the second place in the first stage. What do you think about it?
In any case, it’s fantastic. They are all poised at the beginning to start as good as they can. The first time control point pointed it. Ten trucks in two minutes! An Aleš was ahead.
Aleš donated the symbolic silver to his new-born son Alex. How does such an addition to the family affect racer?
I think it’s encouraging. He has the son, everything went well. It just start him up, it has already has been seen.
What about the second stage? Aleš’s crew had to cope with difficulties.
This is Dakar. You cannot race without a problem and at rest, especially today, when the competition is strong. They all are pushing, going forward, as they can. But problems also affected the others. There were accidents, defects, something can always happen.
The crew had to go without a windscreen for a long time. Have you experienced this?
I have not, it would be like riding a motorbike… Seriously, in the dust and rocks it is not fun. And Aleš isn’t the type of racer who would hold far behind to not catch a wound. When racer needs to overtake, it’s a problem.
In addition, Aleš had to overcome dunes without all-wheel drive.
This is a fantastic performance to cross the dunes, though the front didn’t work. I experienced this just in situation we were not in the race. Be stuck on the dune would be end.
The loss is in tens of minutes. Can anything be done?
It was only the second stage. If this was a loss before the last stage, it would probably be no chance. But they have the race ahead, it’s open. I believe Alda can handle it.
De Rooy seems strong. He helped Merdejev but leads.
It’s disputed. It is said that he helped about a quarter of an hour and organizers subtracted 22 minutes. It just does not seem fair. In our times it was not like that. Who want to help, help without the right to subtracting the time.
What pitfalls had yesterday’s third stage? The race was at altitude of around three kilometres.
Technique loses power at that height. It is important not to make a navigational error, not to capture defect. The boys made it great. I keep my finger crosses and hope that this year it comes out. |
|
Ing. Lucie Houthoofdtová
PR manager
|
January 8th, 2014
|
|
8.1.2014
NEWSLETTER INSTAFOREX LOPRAIS TEAM
Bronze in the third stage and climbing to the three thousands meters
After Monday’s second stage, in which the team had to deal with inconveniences such as absence of 4×4 dust and punched windscreen, it was hard to put together technique and prepare for the next stage at the same time. But Aleš Loprais as a true fighter said: “Although result after the second stage does not look very good and I’m not thrilled at all, it was luck that we managed to reach the finish. Now we can fight again for the podium and I believe that for the victory too because I lose about twenty minutes to De Rooy, our major competitor. The rest we have to solve somehow. Of course there is not much space for mistakes, but we have no other option than board the A variant and fly as good as we can.” The mechanics did a great job at the night from Monday to Tuesday, so Aleš could report at the six in the morning local time: “Queen after renovation, night shift, I’m going to ride!”
About half past eight the organizers announced that they approached the target for cars and trucks from originally planned 245 to 222 km. But everything was different half an hour after noon. “It is possible to preserve original special stage for trucks and cars unchanged unlike the morning announcements,” said organizers. Racers could enjoy the Ands in full glory. Trucks had to climb to an altitude of over three kilometres, Aconcagua volcano looked down from its high of 6962 meters at the racers. And it saw a race that had to cheer the team of Loprais. After night toil of mechanics has dove the whole 504 crew and the Queen great job. And finally it was another position on the podium!
Aleš Loprais reached the finish in San Juan as the third, just five minutes after the Russian Karginov from Kamaz and two minutes after Dutchman De Rooy. After the silver first stage the 504 crew won in the third part of Dakar adventure bronze. In the overall ranking is the crew now fifth.
“From the fifteenth starting position to the stage bronze! What can I say? After a hellish experience of the second stage it was pleasant variety for the whole team and the second podium finish in the first three stages. I have to admit that the start of the Dakar 2014 is the most complicated in terms of difficulty of stages. The organizers really fulfilled what they promised. Devastation of crews, junkyard of technique and constantly changing position across all categories – it is return to the roots of Dakar. I really would like to go through this adrenaline to the finish of race. Tomorrow at six in the morning we will begin the longest stage of this year’s Dakar. Good night…” said Aleš Loprais.
And program of today? 4th stage San Juan – Chilecito
Connecting section (trucks): 211 km / Special stage (trucks): 657 km
We could say about Wednesday’s stage that it is a “long-haul flight”. Competitors will run the Argentinean pampas to the northwest and after a warm-up connection section of 43 km the unprecedented long special stage waits for them. 657 km! So long stage was on Dakar last time in 2005. And organizers promise a wide open field, so there will be much of overtaking. Racers have to keep an eye on rivers and canyons. |
January 8th, 2014
The motorcycles and quads will start at km 130 of the special.
The finish of the car/truck special has been moved to just after km 222 of the original course, yielding a new stage length of 240 km
The competitors of the 2014 Dakar will experience their first taste of the mountains by passing through the Pre-Andes. The Aconcagua Volcano stands 6,962m high and will observe the progress of the vehicles, of which a part will rehearse their high mountain driving techniques. The motorcyclists will climb up 4,300 metres during their special stage, on a ridgeline where they will have the impression of towering over the whole of America! The descent will bring them back to the tough reality of the drivers of the Dakar, as they will only have finished the first part of this marathon stage. They will have to ensure the mechanics for their own vehicles at the isolated bivouac which has been set up for them.
On tuesday, January 7th, the organizeres decided to cut the lenght of the special stage by about 80 km. The finish of the car/truck special was moved to just after km 222 of the original course, yielding a new stage length of 240 km
The stage was won by Karginov, with de Rooy 2nd. Loprais came home 3rd, Kolomy 4th. Stay tuned……….
TEMPS – Camions – ASS – étape 3 – secteur 2
| Pos. |
N° |
Nom |
Heures |
Temps |
écart |
|
506 |
|
17:13:29 |
03:21:29 |
- |
|
501 |
|
17:04:11 |
03:24:11 |
00:02:42 |
|
504 |
|
17:29:23 |
03:26:23 |
00:04:54 |
|
502 |
|
17:15:22 |
03:27:22 |
00:05:53 |
|
516 |
|
17:33:51 |
03:28:51 |
00:07:22 |
|
508 |
|
17:13:03 |
03:29:03 |
00:07:34 |
|
529 |
|
17:28:13 |
03:32:13 |
00:10:44 |
|
509 |
|
17:38:30 |
03:34:30 |
00:13:01 |
|
520 |
|
17:36:24 |
03:38:24 |
00:16:55 |
|
511 |
|
17:46:19 |
03:39:19 |
00:17:50 |
|
507 |
|
17:26:28 |
03:40:28 |
00:18:59 |
|
500 |
|
17:30:43 |
03:40:43 |
00:19:14 |
|
545 |
|
17:34:12 |
03:52:12 |
00:30:43 |
|
549 |
|
17:46:37 |
03:52:37 |
00:31:08 |
|
510 |
|
17:53:18 |
03:53:18 |
00:31:49 |
|
512 |
|
18:06:51 |
04:00:51 |
00:39:22 |
|
519 |
|
18:11:14 |
04:02:44 |
00:41:15 |
|
513 |
|
18:09:29 |
04:10:29 |
00:49:00 |
|
526 |
|
18:19:29 |
04:11:29 |
00:50:00 |
OVERALL:
De Rooy (Iveco) now leads the truck general standings with a lead of 18’49′ over the MAN driven by Marcel Van Vliet. In third, Andrey Karginov (Kamaz) lies 39’10′ behind. Hans Stacey (Iveco) is fourth, 45’36′ behind, just in front of Ales Loprais (Tatra), 45’58′ behind Sixth placed Anton Shibalov (Kamaz) is not far from fourth place either, trailing the general standings leader by 46’53′.
January 7th, 2014
The Dutch Dakar Team Holland, driving the only Tatra Phoenix in the Dakar, finished 33rd in the first stage, but is still missing in the rankings of the 2nd stage. Their website http://www.dakarteamholland.nl/ hasn’t said anything about their fate until now, so the wondering has started. The team suffered from large problems the last year. Two years ago they retired, last year, driver Marcel Schoo flipped his Tatra and could not continue. This year Marcel Schoo’s goal was simple: Get the Phoenix to the finish. Bad luck again struck the team last december, when Marcel Schoo encountered medical problems and had to replaced by Pierre Blom. When one sees their professional approach, their Phoenix service truck etc, they deserve more.
UPDATE: Today we experienced that the Phoenix is still in! The crew however missed three waypoints and to avoid disqualification, turned back with the consequence of loosing three hours. The Phoenix finished last of all trucks, after midnight at 2-30 a.m local time today. Crossing the dunes in the dark was hard, especially as the sand was dark as well, forcing the crew to be cautious.
January 7th, 2014
Tomas Vratny on his way to 36th place in the 2nd stage
January 7th, 2014
Aleš Loprais continued the Dakar Rally encouraged by the success in the first stage, which he finished with the Queen 69 on the second place.
Aleš Loprais continued the Dakar Rally encouraged by the success in the first stage, which he finished with the Queen 69 on the second place. And a really hard work waited for him and the others racers too. After the start from San Luis brought the connection section of 304 km racers to the Sierra Nevada, which then all circled in the 400 km long bypass. So they can see the Payún volcano with a height of over three and a half kilometre or the lake Laguna se Llancanelo with a natural reserve from all sides. But there was no time to watching. Organizers prepared one of the fastest stages of the rally, which however proved as tricky. Measured section started on the clay base, which was after 40 km replaced by stones. Aleš Loprais with the winner of the first stage Mardeev went first and after about two hours it looked very promising for the Czech crew – the results showed them on the first place, five second before Mardeev. But then stopped luck for the leading duo. Firstly arrived news about the accident of Mardeev. Kamaz crew could not get out of the cab, but was blessing in disguise. Dutchman De Rooy helped more than fifteen minutes the crew to get out. Help rivals in need is a gesture that is appreciated.
Grey and unusually harsh sand dunes in Nihuilu made it hot even for Aleš Loprais. He reached the finish destination in San Rafael with a broken windscreen and on the 14th place. Finally the official web site of the race said that it was more than 45 minutes loss of the winning De Rooy, exactly 45 minutes and 5 second. In the overall ranking it means that Aleš is on the seventh place. His loss to the first De Rooy is 43 minutes and 46 seconds.
“Hello to all in the Czech Republic. Though it perhaps sounds strange, I would call this day a happy stage. Unfortunately, shortly after the start we lost the 4×4 dust. The whole time I was thinking how we will go through the last 80 km of dunes that awaited us. With the 9,5-ton truck it is really a lottery, which we finally won, even though we lost a lot of time in sand. Another adrenaline moment came about 30 km after the start, when the wind pushed windscreen into the cabin and broke it. We had to stop, kick the glass and continue in the dust gruelling 370 km! Only in glasses. During the day we overtook dozens of cars at full speed. With one hand you hold the steering wheel, with the other you cover the exes from stones flying from vehicles ahead. Today we endured a lot of powder, but we reached the stage in good health. 4×4 dust will be fixed tomorrow, so today was a really happy day,” describes our pilot Aleš Loprais what actually happened on the track.
Today is the third stage from San Rafael to San Juan. And today should fear those who do not like heights. View will be on almost the whole South America. Cars and trucks will during the third stage climb four times to altitude of three kilometre and motorbikes and quads to a height of 4300 meters above sea level. Mountain terrain bellow the Aconcagua volcano will test the readiness and technical capability of all participants. And after a day of scratching up the hill waits at the end of measured section the steep descent. During the last few kilometres descend trucks and cars from two and half kilometres to approximately eight hundred meters, motorcyclist will fall from more and four kilometres to 1700 metres. Different target altitude shows that the bivouac will split for the first time this year. Depo of the motorcyclist will be isolated.
January 7th, 2014
Dutchman Gerard de Rooy is now the winner of yesterday’s stage and overall leader in the truck class. By helping the crashed Mardeev yesterday, he lost 23 minutes and his appeal to be compensayed, was granted by the organisation. Kolomy finished 5th, 23 min adrift, Loprais 14th, 45 min adrift due to his cracked front scree, the Loprais crew having to fight the sand. Tomanek came home 1hr10 sec after thge stage winner, Ardavichus 26th and Vratny 36th, more than two hours after de Rooy.
| Pos. |
N° |
Name |
Mark |
Time |
variation |
Penalty |
|
501 |
|
IVECO
|
03:58:17 |
- |
- |
|
545 |
|
KAMAZ
|
04:11:37 |
00:13:20 |
- |
|
508 |
|
MAN
|
04:13:26 |
00:15:09 |
- |
|
507 |
|
IVECO
|
04:21:00 |
00:22:43 |
- |
|
502 |
|
TATRA
|
04:21:31 |
00:23:14 |
- |
|
506 |
|
KAMAZ
|
04:24:26 |
00:26:09 |
- |
|
549 |
|
KAMAZ
|
04:25:07 |
00:26:50 |
- |
|
500 |
|
KAMAZ
|
04:27:17 |
00:29:00 |
00:05:00 |
|
520 |
|
IVECO
|
04:33:42 |
00:35:25 |
- |
|
510 |
|
MAN
|
04:36:04 |
00:37:47 |
- |
|
530 |
|
MAN
|
04:37:58 |
00:39:41 |
- |
|
529 |
|
MAZ
|
04:39:59 |
00:41:42 |
00:10:00 |
|
518 |
|
HINO
|
04:41:32 |
00:43:15 |
- |
|
504 |
|
TATRA
|
04:43:26 |
00:45:09 |
- |
|
509 |
|
GINAF
|
04:44:40 |
00:46:23 |
- |
|
516 |
|
IVECO
|
04:44:52 |
00:46:35 |
- |
|
512 |
|
DAF
|
04:52:09 |
00:53:52 |
- |
|
511 |
|
GINAF
|
04:56:51 |
00:58:34 |
- |
|
526 |
|
GINAF
|
05:06:16 |
01:07:59 |
- |
|
519 |
|
TATRA
|
05:08:28 |
01:10:11 |
- |
|
548 |
|
GINAF
|
05:09:54 |
01:11:37 |
- |
|
521 |
|
MAZ
|
05:18:08 |
01:19:51 |
- |
|
534 |
|
MAN
|
05:19:32 |
01:21:15 |
- |
|
505 |
|
MAN
|
05:24:01 |
01:25:44 |
- |
|
525 |
|
LIAZ
|
05:25:35 |
01:27:18 |
- |
|
542 |
|
TATRA
|
05:40:11 |
01:41:54 |
- |
|
527 |
|
MAN
|
05:45:31 |
01:47:14 |
- |
|
535 |
|
DAF
|
05:46:21 |
01:48:04 |
- |
|
533 |
|
MAN
|
05:50:44 |
01:52:27 |
- |
|
532 |
|
HINO
|
05:53:00 |
01:54:43 |
- |
|
540 |
|
DAF
|
05:55:40 |
01:57:23 |
- |
|
514 |
|
GINAF
|
05:59:55 |
02:01:38 |
- |
|
513 |
|
LIAZ
|
06:08:12 |
02:09:55 |
- |
|
538 |
|
MERCEDES
|
06:14:59 |
02:16:42 |
- |
|
563 |
|
DAF
|
06:16:39 |
02:18:22 |
- |
|
515 |
|
TATRA
|
06:18:57 |
02:20:40 |
- |
|
543 |
|
MAN
|
06:27:07 |
02:28:50 |
- |
|
531 |
|
MAN
|
06:30:30 |
02:32:13 |
- |
|
561 |
|
MAZ
|
06:35:10 |
02:36:53 |
- |
|
547 |
|
DAF
|
06:57:41 |
02:59:24 |
- |
|
546 |
|
GINAF
|
09:08:11 |
05:09:54 |
02:00:00 |
|
556 |
|
MERCEDES
|
09:28:45 |
05:30:28 |
02:00:00 |
|
522 |
|
DAF
|
09:41:34 |
05:43:17 |
02:00:00 |
|
552 |
|
MERCEDES
|
09:48:26 |
05:50:09 |
02:00:00 |
|
517 |
|
GINAF
|
09:50:09 |
05:51:52 |
02:00:00 |
|
557 |
|
GINAF
|
09:58:34 |
06:00:17 |
02:00:00 |
|
550 |
|
DAF
|
10:03:12 |
06:04:55 |
02:00:00 |
January 7th, 2014
