Dakar 2024: Smooth day and good pace for Ourednicek and Kripal

Stage 9 between Al Duwadimi and Al Ula was a good day for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Czech crew without any major issues and with a good pace. Tomas Ourednicek and David Kripal clocked the 29th time on the stage while trying to preserve the car. In the overall classification, they are 45th because of a heavy penalty received earlier.

“This was a good stage. We tried to push a bit to test our limits, but in the second part of the stage, there were many stones. There was a very tricky pass where the car had to squeeze between two big rocks with just a 2-meter-wide gap. However, our car is 2 meters 30 wide, so we got stuck there and had to backtrack. We eventually found another route, which was for the trucks.
The result is not so bad. We didn't take any risk, didn't want to destroy the car. We are just trying to learn how to go fast in the sand with this car. However, in the stony parts and when it's very rough, we try not to push too hard, not to destroy it. We just want to find out where the limits are with the Toyota Hilux T1+.
It was great to see many Czech flags along the route. It was an amazing feeling,” Tomas Ourednicek summarised Stage 9.

“Navigation was difficult today, but we enjoyed the stage and are happy with the pace. We saw many vehicles in trouble, including one of the Hunters on its roof, so we are really happy that we had a smooth day without even a puncture,” co-driver David Kripal said.

Wednesday’s Stage 10 will be a loop stage around Al Ula, with a 371 km long special stage.

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