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Dakar 2026: Team De Rooy FPT Keeps Rolling with Zala’s P2 Finish in second stage Dakar Rally

Dakar 2026: Team De Rooy FPT Keeps Rolling with Zala’s P2 Finish in second stage Dakar Rally

Dakar Hits: 211 0 minutes read
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AL ULA – Following Ales Loprais’s victory in the opening stage, Team De Rooy FPT delivered another stellar performance in the truck class during Stage 2 of the Dakar Rally. Vaidotas Zala finished the grueling run from Yanbu to Al Ula in second place, closing to within just three minutes of standings leader Mitchel van den Brink.
“Given how tough the day was, I’m really happy to have made it to the finish without any major issues,” Zala said shortly after crossing the line. “I saw a bunch of vehicles on their sides. It was brutal out there for everyone. I think everybody had a few flats. The racing stayed tight all day.”
For most of the stage, Zala found himself chasing defending champion Martin Macik, but the Lithuanian managed to overtake the Czech driver in the dunes just before the finish. “That was a great way to end the stage.” He ended up 32 seconds short of the stage win, which went to Gert Huzink.
Precision driving
While he was happy with the result, he hadn’t exactly had fun out there. “It was a tough day,” he admitted. “The low visibility really messed with us. So we tried to be as precise as possible, especially through the rocky sections.”
He continued: “Those sections are notorious for razor-sharp rocks. It’s pretty tricky keeping a ten-ton truck on the track through all those tight turns. So going in this morning, my mindset was: we just need to survive this day.”
He did exactly that—and then some—and he took real satisfaction in that. “Three years ago, my Dakar ended right here because we ran out of tires. Today we improved our position a bit. We’re only three minutes back of Mitchel van den Brink now. So the battle’s not over.”
‘Brutal, absolutely brutal’
Zala’s teammate Loprais, the previous day’s winner, had to settle for fifth on Monday. The Czech driver from Team De Rooy FPT was just grateful to reach the finish. “Because it was brutal, absolutely brutal. Things started out great. The truck was flying like crazy. Everything was working. Then the hood came off twice. We had to stop to secure it.”
“The engine would’ve cooked if we’d left the hood off. Later we also had an electrical issue that kept us from shifting past third gear. So we had to restart the truck several times. That was a pain, but we made it through. I’m surprised we only lost thirteen minutes to the leader. I’m glad we can keep going.”
 
Stage 3 on Tuesday is a longer loop around Al Ula covering 736 kilometers, with 422 kilometers of special stage. Zala: “I don’t have a good read on tomorrow’s stage yet. This region might be a bit sandier, but I still expect rocky canyons and tricky navigation. We’ll see. I’m trying not to get ahead of myself. Right now things are going a little better, but tomorrow we could run into problems all over again.”
 
Source: Team De Rooy FPT
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