4.1.2013
NEWSLETTER INSTAFOREX LOPRAIS TEAM
The crew of Princess n. 503
The start of Dakar Rally is close, actually very close! The crew is in Lima and last preparations are underway. Before the outbreak of Rally we would like to remind and introduce, who will this year defend the colours of InstaForex Loprais Team.
The crew is composed of three professionals, competitors with experience with Dakar Rally. They are able to perform their tasks in demanding conditions as well as individually and as a team.
Favourite sentence of Aleš Loprais (10. 1. 1980) is: “What ever.” He uses it in rare moments when he’s a bit late with something not much important. Otherwise he prosecutes much. He has competition of all kinds from birth in the blood and it’s natural for him in all sectors of sport. Moreover, with the support of the whole family he became the manager of the team. Aleš Loprais has extensive experience with long-distance motoring competitions. This year it will be his seventh participation in the rally. In 2006 he served as a navigator in the crew of his uncle Karel Loprais, the six-time winner of Dakar Rally. But because of Karel Loprais’s health problems they didn’t complete the race. His debut in the position of the first driver in 2007 he finished (in the crew with Petr Gilar) on the third place in the truck category. In 2011 he won the Silk Way Rally. Last year he fought in Dakar Rally for victory but the team had an accident in the connecting section and had to resign. In the same year in the Silk Way Rally he didn’t defend victory. Despite the protest against an unclear situation, which apparently bereaved them of victory, Aleš Loprais with the crew finished on the fourth place. Aleš races in Tatra cars as well as his uncle. Last year he had an short episode in the Eurol Veka Racing Team and brand Man.
It has been only few months since Aleš Loprais started to share his cabin with Belgian front passenger Serge Bruynkens (18. 7. 1968). Their cooperation began after last year’s Silk Way Rally, where Aleš Loprais appeared as a guest in the InstaForex Eurol Veka Team. Serge Bruynkens started his career as a technic, later he was nominated as a racer to the Golden helmet. Serge has firstly tasted the atmosphere of Dakar Rally as a technic in 1998. Since 2009 he works as a front passenger in racing lorries. The experience, for example from Johan Elferink, Marcel Van Vliet or Peter Versluis’s crews may be useful for this year’s adventures in Aleš Loprais’s Tatra. We are all glad that he decided to join our team, basically because he is professional and has a lot to offer.
The mechanic Radim Pustějovský (21. 2. 1969) is definitely no beginner in the crew. His technical and navigational skills are gonna be very important in some difficult Dakar stages. He gained the knowledge of the terrain during his four years long mission as a rider in Mauretania. Radim is one of those brave men, who are not scared from any challenge. But he is also a good friend whom you can trust. Last year he was together with navigator Ota Měřinský part of the Boverdakar Team and it is quite good he is riding this year again as a member of 503 crew.
As you can see, the Princess 69 is in good hands.
Soon we will show you, how Dakar changes the health condition of the crew and how difficult is that for their physical condition. We are preparing a quiz for you. The question will be easy: how much weight do you think the crew will lose during Dakar? If you are interested in this information or you want just a tip it and win some cool prices, then you should watch our actualities and also the web.
We will appreciate your cheering with us!
Lucie Houthoofdtová
Sometis for publicity reasons, but mostly because to find a cheap solution when spare parts were not available, all these rear-engined Tatras from Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Ukrain and Northern Korea, got a front engine.
Northern Korea bought 500 T 613-3s in the years after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Though tatra delivered a few in 1990 and over 200 a year later, the order was cancelled mid way leaving the Koprivnce works with hundreds of T 613s already built with hardly a European market for it. Photos of the Korean T 613s are extremely rare, but last October a tourist photographed a few.
Like in previous years, Vladimir Cettl made a calendar by photographing negelected Tatra wreckages.