The eleventh stage of the Dakar Rally brought extremely challenging terrain and interesting battles for the top positions. Martin Macik Jr. and his crew finished on the second podium step and will go into the last stage tomorrow with a total lead of just over two hours ahead of the second competitor in the overall standings.
Cenda deserves praise once again
The MM Technology team has put a lot of trust in their truck – Cenda. It did not disappoint its orange crew again and deserves an extra dose of polish for completing the extremely difficult stage. “Cenda worked extremely hard today. It was definitely the toughest stage for the machinery, so the fact that we finished with only bent rims and lost just one tyre is a testament to how well we prepared and set up Cenda”, David Svanda praises the truck, its development team and mechanics.
Treasure hunting in the mountains
Apart from the fact that the route full of large rocks and winding paths through the mountains gave Cenda a hard time, it was not a walk in the park in terms of navigation either. “Although the stage was shortened from the original 480 km to 420 km, it was definitely not a navigational freebie. There was virtually no open terrain. At times I felt like a treasure hunter in the mountains looking for the waypoints, but we managed to get them all”, says navigator Frantisek Tomasek, describing today’s experience.
Onwards to the last stage
The long distance covered in rough terrain from the Alula area to Yanbu left many impressions on the pilot Martin Macik Jr.: “Despite the fact that it was incredibly difficult, I had a good time. The organizers led us through rough and hard terrain where every car was kicking up tons of dust, so visibility was worse and for me as a driver it’s uncomfortable, but I dealt with it. Thanks to everyone who kept their fingers crossed, we’re sticking it out to the end! We’ll finish that last stage tomorrow, even if we have to carry Cenda or each other on our shoulders.”
