Aliyyah Koloc is getting faster at Dakar Rally, Tatra caused a stir among the Dakar Classic

Aliyyah Koloc continued her impressive performance in the 4th stage of the Dakar Rally 2024, securing the 30th fastest time in the elite Ultimate class of cars.

AL HOFUF, SAUDI ARABIA, January 9, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — This marked her best performance to date in her debut in this category. Despite earlier technical issues, she has been consistently climbing up the rankings and now holds the 51st position overall. The Tatra Buggyra ZM Racing trucks also made a significant impact, with Jaroslav Valtr in the Tatra Phoenix finishing the challenging stage, characterized by varied surfaces, in fourth place. Pascal de Baar, driving the Tatra Buggyra EVO3, finished in sixth. Currently, Pascal is fourth overall, with Jaroslav in fifth. Despite yesterday’s difficulties, Daniel Stiblík persisted in the race, finishing 25th in the second Phoenix and now standing 24th overall.

After a cold night, Aliyyah Koloc warmed up behind the wheel of her RedLined Revo T1+ special. Today’s stage was extremely fast. And with the exception of one puncture, she did it in first place. She just had trouble with the slower cars that were dusting in front of her and couldn’t be passed in the narrow canyons. She was very pleased with her best result at this year’s Dakar.

Jaroslav Valtr was again struggling with fuel pump problems after the start. He had to drive with a manual gearbox to keep the engine at high revs. Therefore, the experienced Tatra pilot welcomed the shortening of the stage.

Unlike Aliyyah, Pascal de Baar was not so happy with the profile of the fourth stage. Driving at full throttle all the time did not suit his racing heart. However, it was important that the crew did not wander and passed all the waypoints. After the stage was shortened for the trucks and the trucks did not run into the final dunes, de Baar’s crew drove back on the road, where they suddenly found themselves at the finish of the Dakar Classic. There, the Tatra Buggyra EVO3 caused quite a stir.

Aliyyah Koloc (#239, RedLined Revo T1+): “It was very, very fast. In the last 20 kilometres, there were some really nice dunes. We had a small puncture on the rocks at the beginning, so we had to change the bike. I really like fast and flowing stages, it was really fun. There was just an awful lot of dust on the track and sometimes we got stuck behind a car. That slowed us down a lot and we lost something. But that’s just part of the Dakar and I’m happy with today. I recorded my best result so far, so the pace is going up.”

Jaroslav Valtr (#604, Tatra Phoenix). „Our diesel pump stopped working again, so we stopped and somehow got the electric ones to work, but it wasn’t quite 100%. That’s why I had to go with the manual shift because I was able to dial in some 16 to 18 thousand revs and the automatic wasn’t taking it. About fifty kilometers before the finish line, one of our pumps completely failed. So the power dropped somewhere in the region of 500 horsepower. So in the end, the fact that the organisers ended the stage before the dunes helped us.“

Pascal de Baar (#605, Tatra Buggyra EVO3): „The second half of the stage was not my cup of coffee. It was easy, we were still going at the maximum speed. We had two very difficult waypoints to get. Luckily we got them.”

Tomáš Šikola (#605, Tatra Buggyra EVO3 – on-board mechanic): “We were about to hit the last dune when they turned us around. That’s why we got back on the road and started at the finish of the Dakar Classic. They were watching what we were doing there. Everybody went to take pictures of the Tatra, so it was like interesting. But we had to find our destination. We got our card stamped, so we officially crossed the finish line.”

Buggyra Racing Organisation
Buggyra Powersports OU
+ + 372 5606-4169
buggyra@buggyra.com
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