BISHA – The first day of the 48-hour stage started very well for Team de Rooy FPT. Aleš Loprais drove top times throughout the day and arrived at the bivouac in second place. Vaidotas Žala also joined the fight at the front and arrived at the bivouac in third place. Anja van Loon, together with her brothers Jan and Ben van de Laar, suffered some damage on the way but still managed to stay in the top five for a long time.
The first part of the 48-hour stage with 967 kilometers of special stage was about getting as far as possible and staying out of trouble. Racing was allowed until 17:00. After that, each vehicle had to find the nearest one ahead of the six so-called break zones.
“For us it was a normal day at the Dakar”, team manager Henk van Leuven looked back with satisfaction. “The start of the race was rocky. Anja had a puncture there. She also had a small technical problem with one of the hubs on the Iveco, but it was fixed at the first stop. After that, she was able to drive well again.”
Front of the Pack
“Loprais and Žala drove full throttle all day. We are in the front of the pack, and the maintenance of the trucks hasn’t found anything special. So, we are satisfied with the first day of the 48-hour stage.”
Especially Loprais is in good shape. The Instatrade Loprais Team de Rooy FPT driver and his crew, David Křípal and Darek Rodewald, showed their speed all day long by driving in the top three of the intermediate times. The trio finally arrived at the bivouac for the night at kilometer 546, second among the trucks and 3:05 minutes behind last year's winner, Martin Macík and his crew.
Progress
Žala of Skuba Team de Rooy FPT and his crew Paulo Fiuza and Max van Grol also had a successful first day. The Lithuanian showed excellent speed in the Saudi desert. He arrived at the bivouac in third place, 24:03 minutes behind Macík.
Anja van Loon and her brothers Ben and Jan van de Laar showed convincing speed. Despite some bad luck on the way, they were in the top five for a long time. After 491 kilometers of the 967-kilometer stage, the Fried van de Laar Racing Team de Rooy FPT is in eleventh place, 1:42:09 behind Macík.
Tomorrow is the second part of the stage. Then it will become clear what influence the two days of wear and tear around Bisha had on the overall truck ranking.
Source: Team de Rooy FPT
Photo: Fotop
Disclaimer:
As a service to the sport we all love and follow, Rally-Raid Network posts numerous media releases from a wide variety of sources on our website. Due to the large number, and some times short time available, it is nearly impossible to review each public release. These articles are written by reporters or press officers who work for various organizers, teams, drivers, riders, and other parties, and they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rally-Raid Network.
