Aliyyah Koloc proved once again today that she is a force to be reckoned with by her rivals in the elite Ultimate car category. The Buggyra ZM Racing team driver was 16th at the first checkpoint and remained among the best after that. Unfortunately, a technical problem then caused a loss, so the 20-year-old racer ended up in 47th place today. However, she moved up a spot to 27th overall. Martin Šoltys, driving in the colors of Tatra Buggyra Racing, finished fifth in the stage and continues to hold an excellent fourth place in the truck standings, battling Dutchman Kees Koolen. His teammate Karel Poslední was 14th today and overall is 13th.
Aliyyah Koloc particularly enjoyed the first part of today's stage. "At the beginning, we were going very fast, which I liked. But then the problems started. We got a bit lost and ended up stuck in the dust from the buggies that had passed us," she explained.

However, the biggest problem for the crew of the young racer was yet to come. "Then the drive axle caused us trouble again, so we had to replace it. Unfortunately, it took us a little longer than before, but luckily, our efforts paid off. The navigation was quite tricky today, and it was a long day. But the car is fine now, so I'm happy," said Aliyyah Koloc

Martin Šoltys continued battling his Dutch rival on the track for fourth place overall among the truck drivers.

"It was very fast today. We caught up with Kees Koolen at the start, we’re fighting him for fourth place. We passed him, but then we made a small navigational mistake, and he got ahead of us again. After that, we overtook him again. At the end of the stage, there was a trial section where we caught up with the buggies in the dust and had to fight them off. We actually drove the entire 350 km at a top speed of 135 km/h, which was great," said the experienced Tatra Buggyra EVO3 driver.

Karel Poslední did not lose his good mood today, either. "Today's stage was good, we just hit a branch. But there was a photographer sitting on it, so for a while, we didn’t know if we had taken him with us," recalled the Tatra Phoenix pilot with a laugh.

A minor complication arose in the last kilometers. "After the neutralization zone, we got a flat tire and spent some extra time finding one checkpoint. I wanted to make up for the lost time, so I took a shortcut. Seventeen kilometers before the finish, we jumped over two small valleys, and the cardan shaft broke. Somehow, we made it to the finish, and here we are," said Karel Poslední, relieved in the bivouac.

Source: Buggyra Racing