Ales Loprais

Driver

Ales Loprais is one of the most talented and experienced drivers in the Dakar trucks class, and he will be making his 20th appearance at the world’s toughest rally in 2026.

In 19 Dakar appearances, the 45-year-old (who turns 46 on 10 January) has had ten Top 10 finishes. He claimed his best result in 2024: second behind compatriot Martin Macik.

At Dakar 2025, Ales linked up with the De Rooy team, for whom he had already competed in 2016. Broken leaf springs at the end of the first week ruined his hopes of victory, but he still took five stage wins and finished third overall.  

David Křípal

Navigator

David Kripal is a talented navigator who made his first competitive outing in a truck at Dakar 2025, guiding Ales Loprais to third overall.

He returns in 2026 for a second appearance with InstaTrade Loprais Team De Rooy FPT and his eighth in total. 

The 43-year-old competed in the cars at the Dakar between 2018 and 2024, mainly alongside Tomas Ourednicek. Their best result together was 17th in 2019, and they also won the Morocco Desert Challenge in 2017. 

David had a real adventure on Dakar 2023, when he was supposed to be working as a photographer for Overdrive. Instead, he was thrown into a Century CR6 at the last minute as a co-driver for Frenchman Antoine Galland, and they soon realised had no common language. Despite all manner of hiccups, they made it to the finish line in Dammam, only to discover they were officially DNF. 

Jiri Stross

Mechanic

Jiri Stross is a skilled mechanic who has been doing the Dakar since 2016, having made his debut with Jarosav Valtr in South America. This will be his seventh appearance and his third with Ales Loprais after 2017 and 2024.   

He has been a big fan of motorsport since he was a child and began competing as a co-driver in 2003, in traditional rally and rallysprint. Since 2020, he has been working with Dominik Nwelati in the Czech Rallysprint Championship.

Jiri happens to share the same birthday as Ales and will turn 45 on 10 January.

Vaidotas Žala

Driver

One of the top drivers from rally-mad Lithuania, Vaidotas Zala made his Dakar debut in 2016, but his first two appearances ended in retirements due to mechanical issues with a Lithuanian-built Seat. 

The switch to a Toyota Hilux for the next two editions yielded more positive results, with Vaidotas coming as high as 12th in 2019. 

In 2020 – now driving an X-raid Mini – he made headlines by winning the first ever stage in Saudi Arabia, outpacing heavy hitters like Stephane Peterhansel, Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al Attiyah. 

The Vilnius native clearly has the speed and talent to finish in the top 10 – but mechanical problems have often been his Achilles heel. The 2023 Dakar was a case in point with Vaidotas forced to retire on the marathon stage with a broken gearbox.

Back in a Mini for 2024 Vaidotas was again fast but again unlucky with his ranking ruined by engine failure. And it was while standing beside his broken car watching the first, fast trucks go by that Vaidotas decided that switching to those indestructible looking vehicles might be the way to go!

And it was a gamble that paid off. They didn’t have a completely trouble free 2025 run but they did manage 6 truck category podiums and a 5th place overall. Enough to encourage Vaidotas, his faithful co-driver Paulo and new boy Max to come back for another crack at the podium.

Paulo Fuzia

Navigator

As a professional navigator, Paulo has raced in all sorts of vehicles but the T5 Dakar truck was definitely something out of the ordinary and a big jump from a T1+. 

But it was a challenge Paulo rose to with pleasure. He particularly enjoyed the trucks monster proportions and the feeling of security that he had sitting in it. 

He was happy with the result either and is optimistic that they can improve on it in 2026.

Max van Grol

Mechanic

Max van Grol comes from a petrolhead family. Working in motorsport by becoming a mechanic for the De Rooy team was a way “to turn a hobby into a job”.

Max made his rally raid debut last year on the Dakar at the tender age of 24. The goal was just to finish, so their fifth place was a definite result.

The truck they will be using on the 26 Dakar is brand new. But given that he built it in De Rooy’s workshops Max is confident it will hold up.