-- Martin Koloc was unable to start stage 5 after failing to finish stage 4, spending the day in the bivouac with his team preparing the car for tomorrow’s stage.
The marathon format once again tested both crews and machinery, with no assistance from the service team. “We’ve completed the first marathon stage of this Dakar. It wasn’t an easy two days,” Aliyyah Koloc said at the finish. She reached the marathon bivouac on Wednesday without major issues. Still she had an incident to deal with: “There was a minor collision with another car that backed into us, and the front end of our car is a bit dented. It happened in a tight corner and we almost rolled,” Aliyyah explained. ”Luckily, we were able to make it to the bivouac without any further punctures and with both spare wheels still on board.”
The second half of the marathon stage was more positive for Aliyyah than the previous days, helped by a better starting position. “The route wasn’t as dusty or as broken up. But after the first neutralisation we were stuck for about 100 kilometers behind a buggy that threw up a lot of dust and we couldn’t get past. After the second neutralisation things calmed down and visibility was much better,” Aliyyah explained. “Around 100 kilometers from the finish, the steering issue returned, which forced me to slow down. I’m glad we made it to the finish. The car has some issues, but it’s in one piece.” The Dakar Rally continues tomorrow with stage 6 from Ha’il to Riyadh. The crews face 331 kilometers of timed stage and a long 589-kilometer liaison.
Poslední spared neither his truck nor his racing suit, while Šoltys was stopped by technical trouble
The fifth stage of the Dakar Rally, which also served as the second part of the marathon stage, once again tested the inner strength of the truck drivers racing in the colors of the Buggyra ZM Racing team. After a demanding battle with the Saudi terrain, Karel Poslední finished tenth in his Tatra and is steadily moving up within the top twenty of the overall standings. Unfortunately, Martin Šoltys was unable to finish the stage with the Buggyra Invictus due to technical issues and will be towed back to the bivouac.
After spending the night in a tent bivouac, Karel Poslední set off with determination to tackle several more hundreds of challenging kilometres. When he finally climbed out of his truck, his expression and dust-covered race suit clearly showed just how tough the past two days had been.
“The marathon stage was surprisingly good. I just didn’t manage it perfectly, and about thirty kilometres before the finish we had to change the left front tyre. Otherwise, we were flying like we were in a hurry,” said Poslední, who is competing in the Dakar Rally for the second time.
Alongside his four-wheeled “baby”, he made sure to praise the rest of his crew. “Navigator Petr Schweiner was great, and mechanic Filip Škrobánek was great as well,” said Poslední.
“At the end of yesterday’s part of the marathon stage, we gave our baby a bit of service and tidied it up. Today we were going at a great pace. We were catching other trucks and even some buggies,” Petr Schweiner explained in the evening at the tent camp, describing the racing from the navigator’s perspective.
The organisers showed no mercy to the Dakar Rally competitors on the second day of the marathon stage either. “There was a minor navigation issue where several trucks got caught out, but in the end we managed to find our way,” Schweiner added.
Martin Šoltys also began the second half of the marathon stage at a strong pace, but technical problems soon brought his run to a halt. After a temporary repair in the middle of the endless plains, the Buggyra Invictus got going again, but unfortunately for the experienced crew, it eventually stopped for good. The truck will be towed to the bivouac, and further details are being investigated.
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