Irish Motor Sports News – Dakar 2024: Aleš Loprais – Praga V4S DKR truck- SS2 2nd place as team prepares for marathon stage

Dakar 2024: Aleš Loprais – Praga V4S DKR truck- SS2 2nd place as team prepares for marathon stage

Jan 08, 2024

After four and half hours of rallying, Aleš Loprais and his crew, driving the Praga V4S DKR truck, were only six seconds away from winning Stage 2 of Dakar Rally 2024. This result has moved the Instaforex Loprais Praga Team up to second position in the overall truck standings.

The 463-kilometre-long Sunday’s stage between Al Henakiyah and Al Duwadimi was fast, but shortly after the start, the crews faced a 30-kilometre-long section in sand and dunes. While that itself was not extremely difficult, it was necessary to remain careful and beware of potentially tricky elements like broken dunes, which usually offer sharp peaks followed by a steep descent.

“Today’s stage was really long and broken in some places. The navigation begins to be really interesting, and if this trend continues, it will be funny,” says Jaroslav Valtr Jr., the team’s navigator, with a smile.

Aleš Loprais with Jaroslav Valtr Jr. and Jiří Stross were among the top 6 trucks since the first checkpoints, and their gap to Janus van Kasteren, who remained in the lead today, never exceeded six minutes. They managed to keep the optimal pace from the first to the last kilometre, and after the first third of the special stage, they had firmly settled themselves in second position. Then, in the final 100 kilometres, they managed to reduce their gap to the leading Dutch crew and to cross the finish line only six seconds behind last year’s winner.

Thanks to that, the Instaforex Loprais Praga Team has improved by two places in the overall standings. Two of the trucks previously ahead lost over twenty minutes to the stage winner and faced a post-race penalty for missing one of waypoints too. The Czech team currently holds second place in the standings, less than 13 minutes behind van Kasteren and over 9 minutes ahead of Martin Macík Jr. in the third position.

“Today, it was a really nice but difficult stage. It’s almost unbelievable there were only six seconds between the first and second places after more than 400 kilometres. It always makes you think what you could have done differently,”says Aleš Loprais in disbelief.

“After a rather nice opening section, we got to a part with a more difficult navigation. As we were approaching one of the waypoints, we saw a path different from a roadbook, as some vehicles in front of us tried to shorten the route. While it had worked out for some, others lost time there. We lost only a bit because Jaroslav had pulled us through there,” adds Loprais, praising his navigator.

“We returned and tried it again. And it worked well for us, while others missed that waypoint and received a 15-minute penalty.”

“Then followed a long and dusty section, with jumps, holes and it was difficult to overtake, as we were mixed up with other categories. In the final part, we got close to van Kasteren. It looks like he made a navigational error. It was very competitive and beautiful today. The Czechs are now pushing the Dutchmen, so I believe it’s also interesting for the fans. I send my greetings to them. For the whole team, I thank you all for your huge support,” adds Loprais.

On Monday, January 8, the crews can look forward to another big challenge. While the Dakar Rally 2024 is still at the beginning, the organisers prepared another step up for the following days.

Stage 3 from Al Duwadimi to Al Salamiya will feature a 438-kilometre special stage, with a mix of stony sections, jagged terrain, wadis, fast and dusty gravel routes, sandy plains, and dune fields.

To make it even more challenging, the third and fourth stages will be marked as marathon stages, which means limited servicing of the vehicles. On Monday, the mechanics can spend only two hours checking and fixing the vehicles, and only in an improvised service zone. After that, the teams will have to move more than 500 kilometres away to a bivouac in Al-Hofuf, where Stage 4 ends on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the crews will head to a marathon bivouac in Al Salamiya to spend a night. But without any usual team facilities and with vehicles parked in a parc fermé, with no opportunity to do anything on them. The crews will return to their vehicles only shortly before the start of the fourth stage the following day.

Hankook Marks 2026 WRC Season Finale at...
Oct 11, 2026 Comments Off on Hankook Marks 2026 WRC Season Finale at Rally Italia Sardegna
Multiple titles: Škoda Fabia RS Rally2...
Oct 11, 2026 Comments Off on Multiple titles: Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 crews win World, European and national championships
Two Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale...
Oct 11, 2026 Comments Off on Two Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale will star at the 2026 edition of Rallylegend, taking place in San Marino
David Kelly and co-driver Shane Buckley...
Oct 11, 2026 Comments Off on David Kelly and co-driver Shane Buckley produced an flawless start-to-finish performance to win the An Grianán Hotel Donegal Harvest Stages Rally