"Thank God we can we can finally go for some racing!"

Ales Loprais has been one of the most consistent performers on the Dakar in recent years, finishing in the top 7 no fewer than seven times. The 40-year-old got his first taste of the world's biggest rally in 2006 as a navigator for his uncle Karel, a Dakar legend who won the trucks category on six occasions. Since getting behind the wheel Ales has gone as high as third, but it's no easy task for a privateer to compete with the factory teams -especially Kamaz, who have won 15 of the 18 editions since Karel claimed his last title in 2001. Rally raid is certainly a family affair for the Loprais clan -it was Karel's brother Milan who set up the Loprais Tatra team and encouraged his son Ales to get involved. And even Ales's six-year-old son has been known to boss people around at the team garage! Having put aside his law studies to focus on a blossoming sporting career, Ales is now gearing up for a 15th tilt at the Dakar. A regular stage winner but occasionally let down by his machine, he decided to switch things up last year, coming to the rally with a brand-new Praga V4S DKR. He was pushing for a podium place until the penultimate stage, when some unfortunate mechanical issues saw him drop down to 7th place overall. The Praga has been given a few tweaks ahead of Dakar 2021, but the crew is unchanged for this second spin around Saudi Arabia; experienced Emirati Khalid Alkendi will once again act as navigator, while Petr Pokora joins Ales for the third time as the on-board mechanic. Crucially, the Instaforex Loprais team will be entering a second truck this year, which should help them take the fight to the teams who outperformed them last year: Kamaz, Maz and Big Shock Racing. A fan of the dunes, Ales is hoping for a more sandy, technical course in 2021 as he attempts to return to the Dakar podium for the first time since 2007. Above all -having spent most of 2019 developing the new truck, and most of 2020 unable to race due to Covid-19- he is simply looking forward to a long-awaited return to competitive matters.

AL: "We spent most of Dakar 2020 in 4th place, pushing for the podium. But we had some problems on Stage 11 and ended up losing time. In the end I have nice memories of Saudi Arabia, but I would appreciate more sand! I'm expecting to see more dunes this time around. A more technical Dakar gives you a bigger chance of closing the power gap on the factory teams. It's always difficult in the dunes, you need more fast assistance, which we don't necessarily have. But what we do have this year is a second truck, which will definitely help us. You get a better feeling when you know there's somebody out there to help you, who isn't just another rival. Jan Tomanek will be on our second truck. He has lots of experience as a navigator and co-driver in WRC, and he's already done the Dakar with Martin Prokop. Ferran [Marco Alcayna] was helping Albert Llovera last year and he's my spare navigator in case we have any issues with Covid-19. I have a really nice relationship with Ferran, it's a real luxury to have him as a back-up. From the outside our truck looks almost the same. We've focused on minor failures we faced in the last Dakar. It's a newborn baby, so as always there are some small issues! The competition is still high, everybody who was in front of us at the last Dakar is coming again. I think it's important to keep sport alive, to support our sponsors. People have to work, we have to live our normal lives. Dakar 2021 has to survive! It's an outdoor event and it's possible to make it safe. I think it will be a nice race against Covid-19. Thank God we can finally go for some racing! We are happy. We have been working for the whole year on the Dakar project, although we had a few difficulties with lockdowns, and going out of the country. Mostly we went to Poland to test. We did what we could and achieved the maximum. But the real test will be the Dakar!"