-- Aliyyah Koloc and co-driver Marcin Pasek finished 31st in the Ultimate classification and 24th in the W2RC classification. Martin Koloc and co-driver Mirco Brun placed 60th in Ultimate and 30th in W2RC. In the additional Masters classification for drivers aged 50 and over, Martin Koloc currently sits 7th.
Buggyra ZM Racing fielded two three-man crews in the Truck category and the opening day delivered two very different results. Martin Soltys, together with Vlastimil Miksch and Tomas Sikola, finished 4th and was the fastest Czech competitor in the Prologue. Karel Posledni, with Petr Schweiner and Filip Skrobanek, dropped from a top-ten position to 22nd after receiving a three-and-a-half-minute penalty due to issues with the speed limiter.
“The Prologue was pretty good. It was 22 kilometres and it was very, very fast. There were also technical sections on rocks. In those I was more careful – puncturing a tyre and having to change it would cost a lot of time. I think we still had good speed,” said Aliyyah Koloc. Her co-driver Marcin Pasek added that the main goal was to avoid mistakes right from the start: “The Prologue went well for us. We didn’t make any stupid mistakes, and that’s the key. On the stage we already saw the first car on its roof and another one that got stuck in the rocks. It wasn’t easy to get around the second one, so we lost a few seconds there, but that’s not important now. We’re happy to be here – and the real Dakar starts tomorrow.”
Martin Koloc was clear about what held him back in the Prologue: “From the start I couldn’t switch off the speed limiter, so I was capped at 116 kilometres per hour. It was honestly torture – on the long straights where you’re doing 160–170, I was 50 slower.” At the same time, he stressed the team remains calm: “Tomorrow we’ll be starting somewhere from the back and we’ll have to fight our way into a good position for the next stage. I don’t see it as any drama – it just wasn’t pleasant. Otherwise the car works well and the navigation was great. We still have another two weeks ahead of us.”
“I’m glad it finally started. The Prologue went well for us – fourth place is good result. I did my best to drive smart, so we have a good starting position for tomorrow,” said Martin Soltys. He added about the truck: “The truck ran without any major issues, we only lost a mirror.”
Co-driver Vlastimil Miksch praised a clean run without mistakes: “I was nervous right up to the last moment, but once you’re on the start line, it drops away. The important thing is that we didn’t make any mistakes and we didn’t get lost.” Mechanic Tomas Sikola added a few details from inside the cab: “It was a fast section with technical parts as well, so it was quite demanding for the start. Passing under a tree we clipped a branch and tore something off the roof – we only found out at the finish what it was. It was the protective frame for the front windscreen. We also knocked off a mirror somewhere. Those are our two losses today. We’ll fix it and move on.”
For Karel Posledni’s crew, the result was decided by the penalty. “From the start I couldn’t switch off the speed limiter, so we got a 3:30 min penalty. Otherwise we would have been somewhere around ninth or tenth. Now we’re twenty-second, but tomorrow the real Dakar begins,” said Posledni.
Co-driver Petr Schweiner explained that the priority before the start was to stay calm in the cab: “I was nervous, but before the start we sat down in the cab, shook hands and calmed ourselves down. It’s a shame about the technical issue and the unnecessary penalty – it’s a lesson for us and for the team.” Mechanic Filip Skrobanek added that the crew is still settling into some things: “The new co-driver is gradually integrating into the crew. Some things are still falling into place, but I believe it will only get better in the coming days.”
On Sunday, Dakar continues with Stage 1 from Yanbu to Yanbu. The crews will face a 305-kilometre Special Stage and 213 kilometres of liaison sections (518 km in total).
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Name: Buggyra Organisation
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Organization: Buggyra Organisation
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