Dakar | Trucks, Stage 3: Loprais breaks Iveco's dominance

At the Dakar bivouac they were wondering who would be able to break the hegemony of Janus Van Kasteren, dominator for three days in the truck category with the Iveco Powerstar of the Boss Machinery team De Rooy FPT: the answer came at the conclusion of the third stage which proposed a 438 km special in the section that took the caravan from Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya. Ales Loprais with the Praga V4S DKR took advantage of the Dutch crew's first moment of weakness to win the special stage and take the lead in the general classification, giving the first jolt to the ranking.

Loprais followed the leader's Powerstar until km 310, when Van Kasteren had to give way to the Praga V4S DKR due to a puncture and the Czech took advantage of this to take the lead and gain more than a quarter of an hour which he maintained until to the checkered flag. Ales, once in the lead, was intent on controlling the pace to avoid surprises, but when he saw that Martin Macik with the Iveco Powerstar of MM Technology had arrived within a few seconds, he changed pace again, imposing a gap of 4 on his compatriot '27” and taking home the 13th success in a stage of the Dakar.

For the 43-year-old Czech it's like emerging from a nightmare: last year Ales decided to retire during Stage 9, while he was in the lead, because his Praga, while climbing over a dune, had hit a spectator who was stationed in a strictly forbidden area . The man had died from his injuries and subsequent investigations by the Saudi authorities had advised Loprais to give up the race, although Ales had already decided to stop in mourning.

The Czech experienced a moment of great trouble, but, after being rightly cleared of any responsibility, he decided to participate in the 2024 Dakar with the truck that he pleasantly nicknamed “Lady”: nothing has changed compared to last year's vehicle , if not the software management of the automatic gearbox which speeded up the gear changes, limiting the drop in rpm.

The Dakar begins to take on a defined appearance with Praga which preceded three Iveco trucks at the end of the special: behind Macik and Van Kasteren, not at all worried about the episode that slowed him down today and who remains the big favourite, Mitchel emerged again Van der Brink with the Powerstar of Eurol Rallysport, but the fight for the top seems restricted to only three vehicles, since the Tatras of the Buggyra team of Pascal De Baar and Veroslav Valtr, fourth and fifth respectively, have already accumulated almost a 'hour late.

Claudio Bellina's excellent performance continues, consistently in the top ten: with the MM Tecnology Iveco he consolidated ninth place. The Italian crew has margin to hold the position brilliantly in the coming days.

Dakar 2024 – General classification Trucks
Stage 3: Al Henakiyah – Al Salamiya
Special: 483 km; Transfer: 295; Total: 778 km