Dakar 2024: Aleš Loprais Instaforex Loprais Praga Team takes the lead halfway through marathon stage

Jan 08, 2024

The Dakar Rally 2024 competitors faced a long 634-kilometre route from Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya, including 437-kilometre-long special stage. Today’s route offered stony riverbeds full of tricky holes and humps. After that followed a sandy terrain in canyons and between rocks before crews’ skills were tested in fast gravel routes, technical sections, and another dose of tricky stones of various sizes. The competitors also enjoyed some dune sections, which, for the first time, also saw challenging climbs. And just like in previous days, the crews also faced a difficult navigation.

“This was the most difficult stage we’ve had here. Very rough dunes. On three occasions, we couldn’t get across a dune on the first try, and we had to try several times from various directions. There was so much dust, stones, holes, and jumps,” describes Aleš Loprais, who, together with his crew, handled the first half of the marathon stage very successfully.

From the first checkpoint, the Praga truck number 602 clung in second place. And halfway through the stage, right after the dunes, the crew even moved up into the lead. And they remained on top until the end, despite spending the final fourth of the special stage in the dust behind one of the vehicles they had caught up with.

Aleš Loprais, Jaroslav Valtr Jr., and Jiří Stross won Stage 3 of Dakar Rally 2024 by more than four minutes ahead of Martin Macík Jr. and over 16 minutes ahead of Janus van Kasteren in third position. The Dutch crew, who was victorious last year, dropped to second place in the overall standings, with Loprais taking the lead by almost four minutes.

“I’m grateful for the result, but we’re not even in an attack mode. Not at all. It just happened. It’s really tight between the top four trucks, and we’re just trying not to leave any second anywhere. On the other hand, this rally is long, and we need to think about the truck,” adds Loprais, reminding the original strategy for the red and black Praga truck.

After finishing Monday’s special stage, the vehicles headed to an improvised service zone. There, mechanics had only two hours for servicing and fixing all necessary issues. And the Instaforex Loprais Praga Team had lots of work to do.

“The truck had it really tough today, we even broke the windshield on my side,”admits Loprais.

Following a short service, competitors moved to Al Salamiya for the night, leaving their vehicles in a closed parking lot. Drivers will not be able to retrieve them until shortly before the start of Tuesday’s stage. Meanwhile, the crews will stay in a marathon bivouac without their teams or facilities. Their support vehicles and team members are already on their way to Al-Hofuf, where tomorrow’s fourth stage ends after another 698 kilometres. Tuesday’s special stage should be fast, with “only” 299 kilometres. And hopefully, because it is the second half of the marathon stage, it will feature little bit easier route than the Dakar Rally 2024 competitors faced in previous days.

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