
Stage 6 Ha’il → Al Duwadimi
More info will follow soon…
Team de Rooy FPT has a tough day at Dakar Rally but keeps damage somewhat limited
AL DUWADIMI – Team de Rooy had a good start to the second week of the Dakar Rally. Aleš Loprais was again fast in the truck classification on the stage from Hail to Al Duwadimi but had to settle for fifth place due to a puncture. Anja van Loon finished ninth and Vaidotas Žala 12th.
“Anja drove well, as did Loprais and Žala”, said team manager Henk van Leuven from the bivouac in Al Duwadimi. “The cars didn’t suffer. Though Loprais had a flat tire. It was a tough day, but nothing really noteworthy happened. Of course, the punctures cost us time.”
Driving in the dark
The same was true for driving in the dark. The stage was so long (828 kilometers) that drivers who started further back had to drive much longer in the dark than those who started at the front. “Some of the guys who started at the back had to drive up to two hours in the dark, and the guys at the front maybe half an hour. And you can never drive as fast in the dark as you can in the light.”
Tomorrow: Stage 8
On Sunday’s seventh stage – a 742-kilometer loop around Al Duwadimi – the drivers will start a little earlier. “Then we think we can finish in the light. We had some bad luck, but tomorrow, we will have new opportunities and new possibilities. It could just as well go our way again. Anything can happen on these dunes. Sometimes you can make up hours of ground there”, said Van Leuven.
Stage 7 Results
In the overall standings, Loprais and his crew members David Křípal and Darek Rodewald are third, 2:41.13 behind leader Martin Macík. Žala is ninth and Van Loon is tenth.
Stage Rank | Number | Driver | Time | Gap to first |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 | 613 | Anja van Loon | 5h48m39s | +31m20s |
9 | 601 | Ales Loprais | 6h39m37s | +1h22m18s |
12 | 605 | Vaidotas Žala | 7h03m24s | +1h46m05s |