Stage 2 Ha’il > Al Artawiyah
Our next stage of the Dakar Rally, below is our full press report, watch a video and see all photos below.
Stage information
Press release
AL QAISUMAH – The three leaders of Team De Rooy Iveco have all finished in the top ten today. Janus van Kasteren did good business with sixth place. Martin van den Brink finished ninth and just trumped teammate Vick Versteijnen.
The stage from Ha’il to Al Qaisumah had a lot of sand and dunes in store for the riders. ,,It was a beautiful day,” said Janus van Kasteren just after the finish. “We had a great day. We passed both Macik and Casale on the track and are now ahead of them in the standings. We have had no problems and are very pleased with this result.”
The gap with stage winner Andrey Karginov was almost 9 minutes. According to Janus, this time difference after 338 kilometers is ‘very acceptable.’ ,,If we had pushed to the limit,, we might have reduced our time by a minute, but certainly not ten. We have to accept that the men of Kamaz are very, very fast. Their speed is beyond comprehension. Our strength has to be our continuous willingness and capability to perform. That way we hope to stay close to the current leaders.”
The Petronas Team De Rooy Iveco pilots are satisfied with the results so far. Janus van Kasteren, Marcel Snijders and Darek Rodewald find themselves in sixth position in the standings after the second stage. The gap to leader Dmitry Sotnikov is considerable (45 minutes and 37 seconds). The differences with the teams in places four and five are not that big. ,,A lot can still happen,” Janus says. Shibalov is fourth with 22.43 behind the number one and Ales Loprais is number five at 31.11 behind the Kamaz leader.
Martin van den Brink was well on his way to finish today close to Janus and his crew. The pilot of Mammoet Rallysport Team De Rooy Iveco was even in the opening phase just ahead of Van Kasteren. Martin lost some ground, especially in the last part of the special. But the reason why that happened soon became clear. “We had a nice and fast special. It went very well and we were well placed. In the second part of the special we lost the four-wheel drive. The front differential broke while we still had to cover at least 50 kilometers through the dunes. It created some arousal. We drove with care and we made it.”
The fact that Van den Brink only lost fifteen minutes is a major achievement. The experience of de Harskamper and his co-pilots Peter Willemsen and Bernard der Kinderen helped the trio through the dunes. “We worked very well together in the cabin of the Iveco Powerstar. I am very pleased that we managed this. Normally it is impossible to drive through the dunes without a 4×4.”
Van den Brink finished ninth (on 21.09) in the stage and this is also his position in the general classification. The Iveco men in truck with #506 are 1 hour 9 minutes and 23 seconds behind Sotnikov. ,,The rhythm of the first part of the stage gives us a lot of confidence for the coming days,” said a combative Van den Brink.
Vick Versteijnen, Teun van Dal and Randy Smits also got a boost in confidence. A solid performance, despite a technical setback, brought Vick just into the top ten. The driver from Hilvarenbeek was 14 seconds short to catch teammate Martin van den Brink. ,,It was a nice day. A beautiful and varied special and we drove excellently.” At the mandatory stopover, Vick and his teammates made an “annoying discovery”. ,,During the break we saw that the hub seal was leaking and that is not good. As a result, we could no longer use the tire de- and inflation system. The result was that we had to fly through the dunes with high tire pressure to get to the top. We had to move back and forth several times because of it. But above all, we are very happy that we did not drop out of the race. Because that could have happened very easily.”
Vick Versteijnen is now twelfth in the general ranking. The gap on the leader is 1.29.44. ,,We are getting into the rhythm and so there is more to come, as it turned out today.”
After two very strong days in the Iveco Trakker, Mitchel van den Brink had to settle for a slightly lesser day. The fast assistant of Petronas Team De Rooy Iveco was plagued by technical problems in the first part of the stage. ,,We started with Vick just behind us. We let him pass quickly and drove at a nice pace. We were able to follow well and stayed 50 to 100 meters behind Vick.”
Then the plan of Mitchel, Richard Mouw and Bert van Donkelaar fell apart. After around 40 kilometers, we discovered a technical problem. It turned out that bolts of the shock absorbers had broken off. Luckily we could keep the vehicle under control. However, we did lose a lot of time while repairing the truck. For example, the cabin had to be raised using air bellows. Luckily we had spare bolts. However, they were just slightly lighter bolts. So we had to slow down after that. Finishing is of course most important. We arrived in the bivak and that’s what matters.”
Mitchel van den Brink’s team finished 22nd in today’s ranking. In the overall classification, Mitchel is fifteenth after two stages (+2.28.38).
The third stage will follow on Tuesday. Start and finish are in Al Qaisumah. Speed is a key element of around 368 kilometers. In the first part of the special there is still a lot of sand waiting for us. In the second part, the fast tracks and treacherous stones play a leading role.
Bivak Brabant Dakar
The daily (
Dutch) online video from Omroep Brabant named “Bivak Brabant Dakar: Episode 3”
Photos
A nice selection of all collected photographs from a variety of partners and proffesional photographers present during this event.
Stage results
| Stage Rank | Number | Driver | Time | Gap to first |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 515 | Vick Vertseijnen | 1h48m05s | +5m24s |
| 9 | 506 | Martin van den Brink | 1h50m00s | +7m19s (+2m00s penalty) |
| 10 | 524 | Mitchel van den Brink | 1h51m30s | +8m49s |
| 13 | 504 | Janus van Kasteren | 1h55m52s | +13m11s |