InstaForex Loprais Team with Ales Loprais at the helm took the lead at the 9th stage in the truck category but had to halt their participation in the rally ahead of time. The racer made the forced decision after the accident.
Nevertheless, InstaForex Loprais Team notched strong results at each of the interim stages and were at the front until their withdrawal.
Now let’s recall some momentous episodes of the rally and enjoy the success of the stages completed.
On the New Year’s Eve, the 45th edition of the legendary Dakar Rally kicked off with a 13-km-long Prologue running along the Red Sea coast. InstaForex Loprais team met the challenge of the Prologue easily. Sadly, Praga V4S DKR was not able to grab a highly-anticipated rank in the top 5.
For a start, Ales Loprais, Jaroslav Valtr jr., and Petr Pokora were ranked 6th from 55 in the truck category. They lost by 0.7 second to Dutch racer Victor Versteijnen who took 5th place.
At stage 1 of the Dakar Rally 2023, Praga V4S DKR #508 coped with the difficulties of the terrain with no sweat. At high speed, the crew outpaced a string of racing cars and buggies. Eventually, the team notched the second best result of the day. Ales Loprais, Jaroslav Valtr jr., and Petr Pokora moved up by 4 ranks and stood at the second rank in the overall ranking, only 5 minutes behind the leader Martin Macik.
“The first stage was surprisingly tough. Our starting position was not exactly perfect. From the very beginning, we had to deal with dust from buggies and cars,” Ales Loprais said.
InstaForex Loprais Team completed stages 2, 3, and 4 in confidence despite various landscape challenges and technical faults. Harsh weather conditions, rough terrain, tyre punctures, and penalties did not derail their stunning performance. The team easily overcame a maze of rocky tracks and gained the upper hand in the truck category.
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Stage 5 of the rally was 649 km long. En route, Ales Loprais and his crew had to compete fiercely with young Mitchel van den Brink and his father Martin. Despite a bitter rivalry, InstaForex Loprais Team managed to finish the stage first, having outrun Martin van der Brink by 16 seconds.
At the next stage, the participants had to cover a total route of 919 km due to pouring rain. Nevertheless, the team put troubles behind them and was 6th to come to the finishing line, though they maintained the leadership in the overall ranking.
The team secured their success at stages 7 and 8. The crew completed stage 7 second, having gained the advantage of 2 minutes over the closest rivals. The team also did a great job at stage 8, thus notching their advantage in the general ranking.
The 824-km-long track included rocky patches, sandy ranges, and dunes looking like a labyrinth. Having dealt with all obstacles, the crew ranked third at this stage and added 14 minutes to their overall gap with Martin van der Brink.
Stage 9 happened to be final for InstaForex Loprais Team, but not the final one for all the other participants. The red and black truck Praga V4S DKR #508 got stuck in a flooded and muddy wadi for 15 minutes. Nevertheless, InstaForex Loprais team managed to break away from other trucks, finishing the ninth stage in fourth place and increasing their final lead in the truck category to almost 27 minutes.
InstaForex has supported the team for many years. During this time, we have gone through a few challenges that we successfully solved together.
We believe that further editions of the famous rally will go without tragic accidents and the crew will again display their stunning performance.
Let’s wish Ales and his crew to recover from the shocking event and move on with renewed energy!
