Dakar 2020: De Klerk up to 33rd after epic challenge

South African Dakar car privateers Hennie de Klerk and Johann Smalberger made beast of treacherous conditions as they put Sunday’s dramas behind them and stormed their TreasuryOne Racing Red-Lined Nissan Navara from 58th to 33rd in the Saudi Arabian race’s second day. The Pretoria crew was relieved to only suffer two punctures to add to the drama in a day that saw the cars, side-by-side vehicles and trucks racing together from Al Wajh to Neom.

“We always knew that today was going to be super-tough and damn, did it prove just so!” Hennie de Klerk admitted. “It was terribly dusty all the way, never mind that the leading trucks simply wrecked the tracks, unearthing massive rocks and churning the road up to make it even more treacherous than usual, so we were happy to only need to stop twice to swap punctured wheels.It was also great to be able to make up 25 positions from 58th to 33rd in spite of all the challenges today. Much of that has to do with Johann’s on-point navigation as much as it was up to our TreasuryOne Red-Lined Nissan Navara VK56’s ability to take the punch, whatever we threw at it. “There were times today when we were driving blind in the dust, following the sun spots shining through the cloud off the vehicles ahead, so we also relied a bit on luck! We made it through though, the TreasuryOne Navara is in one piece and we only need to carry out routine maintenance this afternoon and prepare for tomorrow’s 427km loop around Neom. We do not expect it to get much easier — we once again run together with the trucks and side-by-side tomorrow, but starting half way up the field will make quite a difference. “That said, we must now pass cars that will be racing faster, so the important thing is to keep moving forward and that is exactly what we plan to do…"

Source reasuryOne Racing