“I want to be better than my brother and dad!”

Michal Valtr will finally be joining the rest of his family on the Dakar as he makes his debut in 2024. The 35-year-old is the son of Jaroslav Valtr, who has been competing in rally-raid for well over a decade, and founded the Valtr Racing team for whom Michal will be driving. Funnily enough, all three of the Valtrs will be competing on different trucks for different teams at Dakar 2024, although they will still help each other out if (and when) they run into trouble in the Saudi wilderness. Jaroslav will once again be driving a Phoenix for the Tatra Buggyra ZM Racing team as he looks to improve on fifth place overall last year. His younger son Jaroslav Junior is a talented navigator and joins overall contender Ales Loprais in his Praga V4S DKR for the third straight edition. And Michal will get behind the wheel of an Iveco Powerstar for the family outfit, along with experienced Slovakian navigator Jaroslav Miskolci and accomplished mechanic Radim Kaplanek. Miskolci was supposed to race with Michal’s father at Dakar 2021, but got Covid at the last minute as was replaced by Jaroslav Jr. - so he hasn’t actually competed in the world's toughest rally since 2016, during his seven-year collaboration with Tomas Vratny. Michal may not have any Dakar experience, but he certainly has rally-raid pedigree, having claimed multiple victories in his national championship and at Baja Poland. He conquered both events again in 2023 and goes into this 46th edition with a certain amount of form and confidence. He jokes that he wants to be the best of the Valtr clan in the final reckoning, but would no doubt be satisfied just to see the finish line alongside his father and brother on 19 January.

M.V.: “I feel very excited and can’t wait to make my debut. At the same time, I feel a lot of responsibility, but I’m ready to face any challenges. I want to enjoy this rally and fulfil my childhood dream! My earliest memories of motorsport are when my brother and I rode on a quad together when we were kids, and then raced together in a car with our dad. I’m really looking forward to being able to cover their backs and help them on the track. At the same time, I want to put myself in the best position. Of course, I want to fight for my team and be better than my brother and dad who are competing in other teams! (laughs) My goal, as I say, is to enjoy the rally. I’m a racer, so of course I’m also thinking about a nice result, but the main thing is to finish Dakar 2024. It would be nice if our family dominated the truck category! A successful Dakar would mean being at the final podium ceremony together with my dad, brother and uncle, who will be our team manager. And of course, with the best result of the three of us!”

J.M.: “I've been into motorsport since I was a child. Since about 1976, when I was cutting out pictures of rally cars from magazines and gluing them into my album. Or maybe it started even earlier, when my brother used to push me around in a wobbly old stroller on gravel pavements (laughs). That was really fun! It was the Czechs who got me into the Dakar. Tomas Tomecek was the first to take me offroad with his Tatra, then the Loprais team, where I got the opportunity to navigate Ales Loprais. I had a wonderful seven years as a navigator alongside Tomas Vratny in the Bonver/FeshFesh team, and now I am a guest member of our Valtr Racing Team led by Jaroslav Valtr, with whom I enjoyed victory at Baja Aragon 2022. In the Czech Republic, the history of Dakar was written by Jiri Moskal with his Liaz and the unrepeatable six victories in the trucks category of Karel Loprais. And thanks to the Czechs, a truck team was established in Slovakia in 2022, under the leadership of Radovan Kazarka. But we still have a lot to learn from our Czech brothers! Every Dakar is different in some way, but the feeling when you are at the finish line is always amazing. It really fills you with positive energy, as well as the whole team. Who wouldn’t be happy about racing with Michal? He and I have done several Bajas in Poland together. I believe we will happily finish Dakar 2024 and enjoy it.”