Prologue

Team De Rooy starts very strong in the Dakar Rally.

Stage info

In the truck category, Martin Macík seized control of the race by claiming the fourth stage win of his career ahead of young Mitch van den Brink.

With just five seconds between them, the game is on between the Czechs and the Dutch.

Press release

Mitchel van den Brink surprises friend and foe

SEA CAMP – Mitchel van den Brink has presented his true colors in the prologue of the Dakar Rally 2023. De Harskamper surprised everyone with a second place.

Martin van den Brink added even more satisfaction in the team. Despite a minor technical problem, he finished seventh. The prologue was won by Martin Macik.

After all technical and administrative checks, the rally drivers got into action for real today. The short stage of 13 kilometers was already explored on Friday. Today’s ranking determines tomorrow’s starting order.

Mitchel was allowed to start the short race in thirteenth place. “We were able to do our thing without doing crazy things. We didn’t make any mistakes and the pace was fine.”

In the short sprint from the starting podium to the finish in Sea Camp, Mitchel and his co-pilots Moi Torrallardona and Jarno van de Pol only had a small issue losing them a bit of time. “The brakes got too hot halfway through. Turned out we didn’t have the retarder (transmission brake) switched on. I decided to be a bit more careful with the brakes but that didn’t really slow me down. We had a nice ride on a beautiful track along the sea. It was a true special and that suits us. We are very happy with this result and can’t wait for the rally to really start tomorrow.”

Father Martin lost 13 seconds to son Mitchel. “However, we are very satisfied. We heard a loud ticking noise while driving but managed to completed the special normally. At the finish we quickly found the problem. There was some play on the mounting of one of the reaction rods. We will solve this today and look forward to the first special.”

With second place, Mitchel van den Brink was the fastest driver of Team De Rooy. Janus van Kasteren and Vick Versteijnen (Boss Machinery Team De Rooy Iveco) finished third and fifth respectively.

It’s obvious but today there was more to lose than to gain. The time set in this Dakar prologue only determines the starting position for tomorrow’s stage. Today’s winner is the Czech Martin Macik. The men of Team De Rooy with main sponsors Boss Machinery and Eurol Rallysport are all doing well. They will start the real battle of tomorrow from a second, third, fifth and seventh position.

Janus van Kasteren Jr. started on the fast track behind Albert Llovera. Halfway through, Janus was able to overtake the Andorran with his number 502 Iveco Powerstar. “To overtake took some time, so we were caught in some dust for a while,” said Van Kasteren. “For now, we are very happy with third place. Mitchel (Van den Brink. Ed.) is one second ahead of us. That’s a nice result for him. We’re third, so tomorrow two other trucks will start in front of us. An ideal situation. The truck is doing well. So are we. Let’s bring it on!”

Vick Versteijnen has also secured a great starting position for tomorrow’s stage. He finishes the prologue in fifth place, 15 seconds behind winner Martin Macik. “It was a beautiful special, really fast with some deep tracks. Everything worked fine in the truck. We drove very neatly. Because you could lose a lot, we didn’t do crazy things. I had no idea where we would end up, but we are very happy with fifth place. We hope that tomorrow will be just as good.” According to Versteijnen.

The Japanese Sugawara was the loser of the day. He crossed the finish line 35 minutes behind the winner. For Team De Rooy it is a problem-free opening day. Now waiving the old year goodbye and full throttle into 2023.