Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk were the great protagonists of the first week of the 46th edition of the Dakar, but things didn't go as the Ovedrive Racing team crew would have liked.
The two, splendid protagonists of 5 stages – the first – at the limit of perfection, showed up at the 48 Hours Stage, the sixth, at the top of the general classification with a 9 minute advantage over Nasser Al-Attiyah and 11 over Carlos Sainz. Not a reassuring haul, but the reflection of 5 days free of flaws and, at the same time, always carried out with high level performances.
Having set off for the 48 Hours Stage with the specific intention of remaining at the top of the standings, Al Rajhi and Gottschalk were involved in a bad accident. While they were intent on climbing a dune, their GR Hilux T1U ended up overturning at very high speed, thus ending their race and hopes of success.
“We knew it would be a long stage and we started well from fourth position,” Gottschalk began to explain. “We drove quite conservatively and managed to catch up with the riders who were in front of us.”
“We saw Al-Attiyah in the distance. But then we came to a very fast climb, where it was necessary to climb at high speed up a dune. Suddenly we found ourselves leveraging a very small dune.”
“The tracks in front of us could barely be seen, but it wasn't anything serious. Then we overturned and, once we got out, we looked at the car and it didn't seem like such a big accident.”
Photo by: Overdrive Racing
#201 Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux Overdrive: Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Timo Gottschalk, accident
“Of course, the car had a full tank of gas and was quite heavy on the rear axle. Maybe we hit the dune stupidly, but we were on the trail of the cars in front of us. I think it was really just bad luck. We were thrown that way and we rolled over that way.”
“Luckily we escaped unscathed, but the car is still very damaged. Now I'm starting to feel some pain here and there, but that's normal.”
Gottschalk estimated that the accident occurred at high speed, also giving some numbers on the carambola that saw them leave the scene in one of the main moments of the rally raid being held in Saudi Arabia.
“The crash happened at about 150-160 kilometers per hour. That's quite a speed. The energy acting on the car when you first land on the roof is quite intense.”
“This also shows how many parts of the car flew off and were thrown into the distance. It was a rather strong impact”, underlined the expert navigator. “That's why we are happy to be here without any major damage.”
“The cockpit protection cage and the helmets worked well. We have to say that we are really very happy with this.” Despite this, it is normal that frustration is still present in the Overdrive Racing team crew, because he was forced to retire while leading the general classification. “It's very annoying. We hoped it could be a very good Dakar for us. We were on the right track and had a good strategy,” concluded Gottschalk.
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