Dakar : Administrative checks & scrutineering (Day 3)
By decision of the sporting officials, the five trucks of Dutch manufactor DAF have not been cleared to start the 28th edition of the Dakar. The crews concerned are: those of: Hans Bekx (502), Gerard De Rooy (n° 504), Jan De Rooy (n° 506), Marcel Van Vliet (n° 523) and Hugo Duisters (n° 529).

According to the officials technical report the competitors of these vehicles don`t have the proper documents.

For these reasons, a jury of officials has decided after speaking to the competitors that based on a part of article 25.4 of the rule book as well as the whole of article 25P1 « every vehicle that is not in conformity can`t be cleared to start the rally. (decision of the jury of sporting officials) ». Article 25P2 B must also be taken into consideration. This decision was announced to the competitors at 15h20 and they now have an hour to appeal.



Jean-Louis Schlesser: “We`ll be in the competition”
“These last few years, I was very careful because the Mitsubishis were really better than the others. But this year, we`ll be in the competition. We`ve worked during the whole season on the buggy. We`ve tested it a lot and I believe that we`re ready. The fact that we have three cars with Magnaldi and Servia is good news because I can focus on attacking. The return of real navigation is also interesting and it`ll change a lot of things. The desert is wide open and so is the race. The Dakar spirit is back and I`m happy about that if I can make the best of it.”

David Frétigné: “Not afraid of giving it a go”
Alone against all. Or almost… David Frétigné will once again be one of the main rivals of the KTM riders on his Yamaha official bike. “I`m eager to start the race and get into the rally rhythm. We`ve worked on the bike a lot to improve the riding position, the comfort in order to feel more rested. I don`t believe that the new rule concerning speed with change the race. I however believe that the event will be won thanks to navigation. I like taking initiatives and I`m not afraid of giving it a go. Anyhow, I`ll do my best to try and make it the podium.”


Tags: dakar-truck, daf, trucks, administrative, dutch,