Dakar 2023: "We rode very consistently and safely" - Eurol Rallysport

MITCHEL VAN DEN BRINK CLEAR THROUGH FIRST STAGE

"We had a great day. I'm satisfied with the result and especially the way we rode.'' After the surprising second place in the prologue, Eurol Team De Rooy Iveco achieved another podium finish in the stage.

Martin van den Brink had slightly less reason to be satisfied. The Harskamper again suffered technical setbacks. However, with a tenth place, the Eurol Team De Rooy Iveco team still managed to limit the damage. "There will be new opportunities in the coming days. I am satisfied despite the bad luck.''
The win in the real opening round of the 2023 Dakar Rally was for Martin Macik. The Czech stayed 6 minutes and 1 second ahead of his compatriot Ales Loprais. Mitchel and his co-pilots Moi Torrallardona and Jarno van de Pol held their own excellently and are at peace with the 10m18s gap. ''Yes, we are definitely satisfied with that,'' said the 20-year-old rally driver from Harskamp.

"We didn't make a single mistake"

Just after the end of the 367-kilometre test, which started in Sea Camp and where the bivouac was set up again today, Mitchel sounded enthusiastic and satisfied. ,"t was also a great day. I drove really consistently and mostly on safe. We didn't make a single mistake and that gives a nice feeling.''
According to Mitchel, today's tactics are the basis for the coming days. ''On the advice of Moi (Torrallardona), we deliberately choose a speed below the maximum. We can definitely go up another gear, but this week we mainly want to survive and then possibly attack next week in the dunes.''
Mitchel's fighting style also has an advantage for the truck's technology. ''The Iveco Powerstar is doing excellently and also gets much less bang in this way. Maybe we can increase the pace very slightly in the coming days to reduce the gap to Macik a bit. We can only be satisfied so far. Things are going pretty well. We are already looking forward to tomorrow.''

'Managing to limit damage'

The same goes for Van den Brink senior. ''We managed to limit the damage and really do see chances of achieving a better classification in the coming days. Too bad we had a bit of trouble today and couldn't report in the top,'' said Martin just after finishing the special stage. ''By the way, it was a wonderful stage. In my eyes, a real Dakar stage. A lot of trucks got into trouble and the differences were also big. We enjoyed the variation and the technical parts of the course. The dunes were beautiful and certainly not too soft due to the rain of the past few days.''

That Martin, Richard Mouw and navigator Erik Kofman eventually had to surrender 35m10s to winner Macik had one main reason. "In the first hundred kilometres, the automatic accelerator did not seem to function properly. We reset the system three times to get the fault out, but that didn't help. We then decided to stop and replace the gas sensor. That took about 20 minutes. After that it went excellent and I am satisfied with the result.''

'Hats off to the organisation'

On the first real test, more crews suffered setbacks. ''We saw that Vick (Versteijnen) and Gert Huzink were at a standstill. They will lose a lot more time today. I also don't think everyone will be in before dark. Yes, it's a great start to the rally like this. Hats off to the organisation. We are looking forward to the next stages with a lot of pleasure and I expect that, without any technical problems, we will then be able to get involved in the battle for leading positions.''

The team of Nico Stijnen, Joël Ebbers and Christiaan van der Haar was still not in at around 5pm. The fast assist is on course and will be looking to reach the line in a responsible manner. For Nico and his crew, the most important thing is to park the Iveco Trakker in the bivouac daily without going crazy.

The Dakar Rally continues tomorrow with the stage from Sea Camp to Alula. The test will then be a whopping 430 kilometres long.

Source Eurol Rallysport
Text: Berry Kamphorst
Foto: MMphoto