Although Saturday was officially a rest day at the Dakar Rally, it was anything but quiet at the truck bivouac of the Buggyra ZM Racing team. This applied to both Martin Šoltys’ Buggyra Invictus and Karel Poslední’s Tatra Buggyra EVO3. Intensive work was carried out on both vehicles to ensure they could continue in the world’s toughest rally.
Both Buggyra ZM Racing drivers looked back on the demanding opening half of the Dakar Rally.
Martin Šoltys’ truck was towed to the bivouac during the fifth stage, and the driver did not hide his emotions upon arrival. “After the first stop because of the turbo, we reached the first neutralisation, but then the engine stopped completely. We had an oil issue and, rather than destroy the engine, we decided to stop. We tried to fix the problem, but it wasn’t possible on the spot. Our assistance vehicle came to help us, but it got stuck on the way. Eventually, we managed to reach the bivouac,” he said.
Šoltys described the first half of the Dakar Rally as bittersweet. “Unfortunately, we still have problems with the turbo. Thanks to our result in the prologue, we started the first stage from fourth position, which was great. But then the turbo issue came. We started the second stage from the very back and spent two days fighting our way forward. In the following stage, we were fourth again. Then came the unfortunate fifth stage, when we dropped back once more. Tomorrow we start again from scratch. But that’s just how Dakar is,” said the Buggyra Invictus driver.
He then literally washed away the stress of racing in a small pool prepared for relaxation by the team’s partner, Albixon. “The pool really helped, so I’m fine now. We swam and relaxed. Thanks to Albixon, it was great,” said Martin Šoltys.
Karel Poslední had to spend the night between the sixth stage and the rest day out in the dunes. “When we were about five metres from the top of the dune, we always had to reposition, so we tried different lines. Because we were delayed, all the exits in the dark were still through big holes. In one of them we rolled over. We waited there for about an hour, then other trucks put us back on our wheels. We slept there and drove to the bivouac in the morning,” Poslední explained.
Poslední also has mixed feelings about the first half of the Dakar Rally. “There are technical issues. Yesterday I didn’t have enough power in the dunes. But the cooperation within the crew works perfectly,” he added.
