Janus Van Kasteren: “today we’ve made another gap”

Dakar 2023 | Stage 12 | YANBU > YANBU
January 13 ^th 2023 - 15:55 [GMT + 3]

 Janus Van Kasteren won stage twelve of the rally by some distance ahead of Mitchel Van Den Brink. He also took advantage of the problems suffered by his rivals to offer himself some breathing space in the general rankings. With two days to go before the end of the rally, the Dutchman now boasts a lead of 33 minutes over Martin Van Den Brink and more than 1 hour and 20 minutes over Martin Macík.  

 “I’m happy. I put a lot of pressure on myself after losing 21 minutes yesterday. Today, we passed Martin, who I was one minute ahead of in the general rankings, and we passed him and he’s still not finished so I’m happy. Two days to go, all for the victory. The fight is very tight. I made a gap today. I can change a tyre trouble-free tomorrow, I hope. I’m happy with my co-pilot Darek who has sixteen years’ experience and has twice won the Dakar. He helped me a lot in the dunes. I think tomorrow will be a crucial day, we will see what happens. I think I can manage it, I will manage it this time. Yesterday, I had a twenty-two-minute gap and I lost twenty-one minutes. I was really tired, but today we’ve made another gap, I think”.