“Don’t lose your mind, just make sure you do the right thing”
CREW FACTS
G.J.v.d.V.
- Gert-Jan van der Valk knows a lot about traveling - he runs with his family the Van der Valk hotels - but the Dakar is much more than a trip, it’s a whole adventure he’s fully embraced as a lover of motorsports, from jet skis to buggies.
- With his friend Branco de Lange, Van der Valk already has four Dakar participations under his belt: two abandons to begin with, and two finishes, with the precious medals he received on the podium.
- The aim for 2025 will once again be to make it to the finish aboard the Arcane T3 they already tried and tested in the Dakar 2024 (20th in the T3.1 class).
B.d.L.
- With his own garage and his mechanic skills, on top of his experience in rallies, Branco De Lange offers an extensive set of skills to face the challenges of the Dakar.
- The desert makes it much harder to tinker the car but De Lange loves to improvise, as he’s done for years alongside his partner in rally Gert-Jan van der Valk, with whom he already made it to the finishers’ podium on two occasions.
2025 AMBITIONS
G-J.v.d.V.: “All the things I’ve done in my life, it has been for ten years: ten years of European championships of jet ski, ten years of enduro, ten years of driving boats, rig boats, FE-Cs… And then I turned to the Dakar.
In each of my participations, the main goal has been to finish, first of all, and to do it in a safe and fast manner, as good as we can. Don’t lose your mind, don’t lose your temper, just make sure that you do the right thing to stay safe and make sure you bring the car and the co-pilot home, with a result as good as possible.
I’ve learned that the team is the most important thing. My co-pilot has to be sharp and it’s the same for me. And then there’s the whole team to take care of us and the car when we get to the bivouac.”
B.d.L.: “We started rally racing 10 years ago and we strived for the Dakar. This will be our fifth participation. We want to finish the race without too much trouble and to make it to the Top 20. It’s always an accomplishment to finish the Dakar, for anyone. It’s naturally easier to work on the car in our garage rather than in the desert. You don’t have all the tools and parts with you, you’re always improvising… That makes it fun!”
