The fifth stage of the Dakar brought the Big Shock Racing yellow truck crew to the 9th stage position and the 5th overall. The drivers, tired from the previous rocky stages, were eagerly looking for the sand promised by the organizers for the fifth stage. They did get to the sand eventually, but first, Martin Macik with Frantisek Tomasek and David Svanda had to get through the dust. During one of the confusing maneuvers, the steering connection rod bent and they were unable to continue. Fortunately, the Czech drivers carried a spare part in the truck carried and the replacement only took about thirty minutes. After that, they raced to the finish.
The team motorcyclist Jan Brabec frightened the fans during the 5th stage when the device for online tracking the driver gave out. Everyone was relieved when the Czech biker suddenly appeared at the finish, although battered and with a broken shield. He finished in the 50th stage place and holds 38th position overall. Jan keeps going on fearlessly but still tries to save his knee as much as possible.
Charles requested a change of steering connection rod on the track
In the 5th stage, Martin Macik’s crew dealt with a technical defect after a rocky introduction. Everything was resolved directly on the track by David Svanda’s prompt intervention. He managed to get Charles back in shape during a half-hour repair with the assistance of other truck passengers. Despite this delay, the yellow truck reached the finishing line in the 9th place and holds an excellent 5th position overall. “In the beginning, we were overtaking the others, but it was super dusty. There were huge stones on the ground and then, in the fog, we saw two rocks with a gap in between. The truck made some noises, the steering connection rod bent, and so did the rod connecting the wheels and steering. So the wheels locked and we couldn’t continue. We were changing the rod for about thirty minutes. Once it was done, we raced to the finish,” Martin Macik said. The navigator, Frantisek Tomasek, added: “Then we kept our performance at 100% until the end. We drove into the sand and started overtaking the others again. We had a lot of fun there. Navigation was absolutely brilliant. Charles was, too. We’re not even halfway through, but we’re still going.”
Brabec disappeared and joked around with Alonso
The Big Shock Racing team’s motorcyclist Jan Brabec finished the fifth stage of the Dakar in the 50th place and ranks 38th overall. His ranking was influenced by a penalization on Wednesday for missing a point after his navigation gave out. Jan also prepared some drama for the fans in stage 5 when he disappeared from online tracking. Fortunately, it turned out that after a small crash, which also broke the protective glass on his motorcycle, his equipment, which monitors its movement on the track, malfunctioned, and therefore he did not appear on the individual WPs during the race. “At about the 90th kilometer, I went down. Not much, but right into the rocks. So I stopped broadcasting because my antenna cables broke. My shoulder hurts a little, but it’s hopefully nothing serious,” Jan Brabec described the development of the dramatic stage. “But the funny thing was that when I stopped at the crossroads with a smashed front beside Alonso and Coma, and they called out to me: You went down, didn’t you? I confirmed it and Coma then said: These things I can tell,” Brabec laughed at the finish.
Watch the video from the 4th stage!
