In third stage of Morocco Desert Challenge the Czech MKR-Renault crews team had a good and bad day. The Dutch Mammoet Renault of Van den Brink / Van den Brink / De Graaf could finish third with +39:04 minutes to the leader Ales Loprais (Tatra) and the second Mammoet Renault of Van Kasteren / Van Hoof / Van den Bosch finished 5th (+54:52).

The third Renault of the Dutch Riwald Team of Huzink / Antonius / Buursen had technical problems, they had to drive around the dunes and lost some waypoints, finally they finished 24th with +12:16:13 hours. "The most important thing is that we reached the Bivouak and are still in the race," the Riwald Team stated.

Ales Loprais was fighting bravely with Martin van den Brink from Holland. In fact the Dutch pilot was leading for most of the way, but fifty kilometers before the finish he had to stop due to loose front wheel. "We managed to stop in time, so we have prevented any further damages," the team reported. "We lost half an hour, because we had to wait for the brakes cool down." Later they had lost another ten minutes in the dunes, which in total was about the time they lost on the winning truck of Loprais.

In the overall rankings, Martin van den Brink is now second behind Loprais (+19:02 mins), Janus van Kasteren is 18th (+12:16:13) and Gert Huzink 23rd (+12:56:05). Big distances after just three days of racing.

"We have gone through one of harder stages. We lost a bit in the dunes, but this time Martin was stopped by a loose wheel. Of course we are sad, because we lost the leading position, but we are not even half-way in the race, so we can still get back to the lead. We will do our best," said Daniel Kozlovský, technician of the MKR Technology team.

Stage Results SS03 Tuesday TRUCKS Top 10

01) Loprais / Janda / Alcayna I Tatra Proto I 04:19:27 I 00:00:00
02) Versluis / Klein / Pronk I MAN TGS I 04:37:10 I 00:17:43
03) Van den Brink / Van den Brink / De Graaf I Renault I 04:58:31 I 00:39:04
04) Fazekas / Csakany / Horn I Scania I 05:13:11 I 00:53:44
05) Van Kasteren / Van Hoof / Van den Bosch I Renault I 05:14:19 I 00:54:52
06) Vratny / Martinec / Miskolci I Tatra I 05:20:44 I 01:01:17
07) Verheyden / Keysers / Schildermans I DAF I 05:24:06 I 01:04:39
08) Voerman / Stubbs / Kupper I MAN I 05:24:25 I 01:04:58
09) Smink / Nieuwnburg / Bruinsma I DAF I 05:34:26 I 01:14:59
10) Schoones / Van der Donk / Schoones I DAF I 05:35:09 I 01:15:42

Overall Rankings TRUCKS Top 10 after SS03

01) Loprais / Janda / Alcayna I Tatra Proto I 11:47:43 I 00:00:00
02) Van den Brink / Van den Brink / De Graaf I Renault I 12:06:45 I 00:19:02
03) Voerman / Stubbs / Kupper I MAN I 12:39:11 I 00:51:28
04) Versluis / Klein / Pronk I MAN TGS I 13:39:50 I 01:52:07
05) Verheyden / Keysers / Schildermans I DAF I 14:24:55 I 02:37:12
06) Schoones / Van der Donk / Schoones I DAF I 15:00:29 I 03:12:46
07) Smink / Nieuwnburg / Bruinsma I DAF I 15:13:23 I 03:25:40
08) Fazekas / Csakany / Horn I Scania I 15:23:42 I 03:35:59
09) Timmermans / Vervoort / Roothans I DAF I 15:27:44 I 03:40:01
10) Vratny / Martinec / Miskolci I Tatra I 15:45:31 I 03:57:48





Photos: MKR, Mammoet, Riwald

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