Finally we have a day of “rest” for the competitors, but also ‘all hands on deck’ for our mechanics.

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The rest day comes just in time for Ladies Team de Rooy FPT

Where the Dakar Rally started excellently for Anja van Loon, Floor Maten and Marije van Ettekoven, the first week ended in a minor way. During the 48-hour stage the problems piled up for the ladies. In the process they provided help to other participants several times, but this cost the ladies a lot of time.

“This was really tough,” Anja says. “These were really the toughest 48 hours of my rally career. It started early yesterday with Huzink’s truck stuck in the dunes. We helped there along with several other trucks. Then that buggy that we had to dodge, but we were glad when we got to the bivouac. There we knew it was going to be tough today.”

However, it was even tougher than previously thought. “We started fine this morning, but again we ended up with Huzink stuck. There we helped and that again took a lot of time. Then we didn’t quite get into the right rhythm and almost went on our side, we just managed to avoid that. The Iveco activated the kill switch, so all the fluids had to stabilize again and then you can’t do anything. That wait took so long and you know it’s dark early here.”

The ladies were able to continue on their way. “It just got harder and harder by the mile. Once it got dark, it was no longer doable. Because so many other trucks had problems, we were also the only ones driving. So there was no one left to help us. But we got out. Now we still have to head towards Riyadh.”

Photo

No photos from today… 😅

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