Eryk Goczał: “The most difficult stage of my life”

Dakar 2024 | Stage 6 | SHUBAYTAH > SHUBAYTAH
January 12 ^th 2024 - 11:45 [GMT + 3]

With an imperial performance in the dunes of the Empty Quarter, the kid from Krakov continues to dominate the general rankings in the Challenger class. He now boasts a lead of more than one hour over his closest pursuer, Mitch Guthrie.

“I don’t know if it was perfect, but I hope it’s good enough, because that was the most difficult stage of my life. It was crazy, for sure. I will not remember the sleeping part of the marathon but the driving part, because we did eight hours which is the longest I’ve ever done, the most difficult I’ve ever done. I never knew I could cross dunes like this, but with this car I can. I think the most difficult for me was mentally because I knew my father had a really big issue on the refuelling yesterday after 100 km. I have no idea if he made it to the finishing line because he lost the rear diff where in these dunes front-wheel drive is almost impossible. So, I’m keeping my fingers really crossed and I hope he makes it to the finishing line. For sure, the first week was extremely challenging. There were a lot of things which really mixed up the classification. I think what saved us was a calm head. For sure, we only had one puncture on the first part of the Dakar because we drove really slowly over the rocks, which I think really helped us to gain an advantage and then I think we were just smart in some sections. We lost time, but in the end we gained a lot more time, so I think that was good”.