“Every kilometer raced here is a big experience”

Karel Trneny returns to the Dakar in 2024 with a new car, a new co-driver, and new ambitions. The 50-year-old from the Czech Republic has been racing in motorsport for over half of his life, becoming a regular on his national rally circuit and winning the Czech Sprintrally title in 2007. In 2017, he did his first Dakar as the driver of a fast assistance truck for Martin Prokop, the Czech Republic’s top performer in the cars. Karel then got a first taste of the cars himself a year ago, putting together a late entry with his business partner Milan Horyl. He now admits they were no doubt lacking a bit of preparation, and certainly had plenty of misadventures in the early days of the rally. They lost front drive on Stage 1 and suffered multiple punctures on Stage 2, which meant driving the last 100 kilometres in the dark. Misfiring cylinders caused more issues on Stage 3, and their rally unfortunately came to an end on Stage 4; Milan suffered a back injury after a big jump and had to be flown out of the stage on a medical helicopter. Karel was nevertheless satisfied with their results up to that point, and returns in 2024 with hopes of completing the Dakar. Milan’s back is still troubling him, so Karel has linked up with experienced co-driver Michal Ernst, who did the Dakar back in 2012 as a truck navigator for Ales Loprais. The 46-year-old has done over 30 WRC events, notably with Prokop. They came as high as fourth at Rally Deutschland 2013, and still did three races together in 2023. He also won the Czech Sprintrally title with longtime racing partner Stepan Vojtech in 2003. Michal admits that guiding Karel through the Dakar will be a very different kind of challenge, but they have at least done a bit more testing this year. Their Ford F150 Evo, nicknamed ‘Mazel’, has also been upgraded to T1+ specs, which means the Workoutland ACCR Czech Team crew should have a better chance of reaching Yanbu on 19 January -hopefully to celebrate Michal’s 47th birthday on the finishing podium.

K.T.: “It was nearly September when we decided to start Dakar 2023, so everything went very fast. We arrived without proper testing and went into every stage with enthusiasm and a lot of humility. The stages were challenging from the start, and we faced some technical issues, but until the unfortunate fourth stage our results were actually very good. The Dakar is the toughest race in the world. There's no doubt every kilometre raced here is a big experience for everyone. For Dakar 2024, we changed a few things in preparation and did more testing. I hope it’ll help. There were two reasons for upgrading to T1+. During the Dakar it was obvious that the T1+ are much better in hard, rocky terrain. Then we had a crash at Baja Spain and faced the question of repairing the car. We decided to cancel our participation in Baja Greece and rebuild 'Mazel' to T1+ specs. After a few months I have to say it was a good decision. It’s a completely different car, better prepared for Dakar. In Czech, ‘Mazel’ means ‘little pet’, and this car is our little pet. I’m interested in the new 48H Chrono stage, which will be new for everyone. There will be hard conditions and some team strategy, so this stage could shake things up. I’m also curious to see how ‘Mazel’ will work with all the changes we’ve made. Every completed stage will be a success, but like last year, we want to finish the whole Dakar.”

M.E.: “It'll be very different from my last Dakar! We’ll be racing in a car, in a different country and conditions compared to last time around. So I have mixed feelings, a sense of excitement and apprehension about this new Dakar. I do have some experience from testing, but I think the reality will be quite different. Being a co-driver in WRC and a co-driver in rally-raid is a completely different story. The position has the same name, and I’m sat on the right-hand side, but that’s about it. So for me and Karel it’s about learning to cooperate almost from zero, but I think we can handle it very well. I started my business with cars, and over the years I’ve met a lot of interesting people who introduced me into motorsport. It was the same with cross-country. I’ve been lucky to meet the right people!”