BLOM Pierre NLD 16/02/1964 180 cm 80 kg

PELTENBURG Rene NLD 11/10/1959 197 cm 88 kg

KRAGT Dan NLD 01/04/1962 195 cm 96 kg

Vehicle

MODEL	MAKE
X2223	GINAF

RANKING

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Scratch	72	72	58	48	48	-	-	44	51	44	-	-	37	31
Stage	72	72	58	48	48	-	-	44	52	38	-	49	37	31	-	-
Overall	72	71	60	58	51	-	-	47	51	45	-	42	42	43	-	-

Pierre Blom: "I have finally found my place"

On a bike, in a car, in T4, in T5… Pierre Blom has in close to ten appearances on the Dakar witnessed almost all the disciplines represented in the rally. And now he is sure of what suits him best: driving a race assistance truck: “I have finally found my place”, he says delighted. "I like both driving and helping out the other competitors. And that’s the toughest thing to do on the rally”. This year indeed, the task looks harsh: Pierre and his crew will have to take care of two cars, seven bikes and a quad all part of the Dakarsports team. “For the bikes and the quad, we only give out spare parts”, explains the driver. The work should however be exhausting. The taste of the rally came fifteen years ago for this owner of an export company. It was in Spain and "it was a great feeling". Then came other rallies in Mexico and Dubai. "I started meeting people who had done the Dakar and that made me want to come". He sadly quit during his first appearance on a bike but that certainly didn’t trouble his determination. Like Pierre Blom in 2002 and 2006, co-driver Dan Kragt witnessed the "Chris Leyds school" taking care of the navigation of this car driver in 2007 (the crew finished 64th of that edition). Before that, the financial analyst based in Barcelona had been the team manager of the Dakarsport team in 2005. Concerning mechanic René Peltenburg, he’ll be starting his fourth Dakar, with quite "some excitement" due to the fact that he’ll be navigating for the first time in a race truck.

Dakar start photos on line: www.maindruphoto.com

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