The ninth stage of the 2020 Dakar was a loop around Wadi Ad-Dawasir, a special of only 287 kilometers with a connecting route of 204 kilometers. Sand, dunes, beautiful rock formations and fast slopes were also the backdrop for the rally today.
For Gert Huzink, who initially had a good start, there was a setback in the form of navigation problems. Gert: “We had a really nice day with everything in it today, and the truck did great. Unfortunately, we had trouble finding a waypoint. Searching for that measuring point took us a lot of time today and that was a shame. Unfortunately, a top ten listing in the day standings was not possible, but we did have a really great day.” The Renault C460 Hybrid 'surfed' through the high, but fast dunes today and Gert Huzink is very satisfied with the truck. Fortunately, the loss of time was limited today.
Banger for Pascal
Pascal de Baar's team started the stage in fourteenth today and was able to follow its own course. After twenty minutes, De Baar was overtaken on the varied test. Pascal: “The pace was dizzyingly fast today, and the terrain was beautiful with beautiful canyons, plateaus and dunes. We reached neutralization together with Mitchel van den Brink but after that we soon past him. Half an hour later we were able to leave the Tatra of the Fesh Fesh team behind us in the dunes. That went well, and the pace in the dunes was high! That can be dangerous in the middle of the day, because then there is virtually no shade, making it difficult to estimate depths. We found that out hard-handed, because when we skipped a dune, there was quite a bang.”
Fortunately, it did not cause damage to the truck, but it did cause back-problems for the crew. After the hard landing, Pascal regained his pace: “It went well again, and then we also saw Janus van Kasteren with a flat tire. That was number four we overtook.”
Pascal de Baar crossed the line in tenth overall and third Dutchman today, just behind Martin van den Brink and Vick Versteijnen. It later turned out that the Renault C460 had suffered a hole in the crankcase due to the hard landing, but there were no major problems today for both trucks of the Riwald Dakar Team.
Gert Huzink is now in 14th position in the general classification and Pascal de Baar is in 18th position. Tomorrow the 10th stage will follow from Wadi Ad-Dawasir to Bisha, with a connecting route of 384 kilometers and a special stage of 375 kilometers. A route with lots of sand, mud, and mountains and hardly any dunes.
For more information: see https://riwalddakar.com/
Source Riwald Dakar Team
