Martin Macík: “We won it all together”

Dakar 2024 | Stage 12 | YANBU > YANBU
January 19 ^th 2024 - 14:16 [GMT + 3]

Distanced by his rivals on the first stages of the rally, Martin Macík took control of the Dakar 2024 during the two days that the competitors had to spend in the dunes of the Empty Quarter. With Janus van Kasteren and Aleš Loprais in trouble, the Czech took the lead in the general rankings and never relinquished it. Behind the wheel of his faithful Iveco affectionately nicknamed ‘Cenda’, prepared by the family workshop MM Technology that he co-founded with his father, Martin Senior, Macík withstood the pressure thanks to the support of his co-pilot František Tomášek and his mechanic David Švanda to pocket his first victory on the most famous of rally-raids.

“It’s hard to say, you know, 23 years of dreaming of the Dakar, I did it 12 years and now I’m finally the winner. Actually, not only me but the whole team at MM Technology. Me as Martin Macík and the crew and all the people around me because we won it all together and it was f***ing great, man! The key was, I guess, having a really great vehicle and we really did build a great one at MM Technology, and then to have the whole team working together, as well as, of course, I guess, a good driver at least! Everything was good together. This was the toughest Dakar in Saudi Arabia for sure and we won it, so it’s great. I don’t think it was the most difficult because it was seamless for us with the truck. If you don’t have technical issues, it’s usually fine and then you just enjoy it. But it’s definitely one of the toughest I did. I guess the win seemed possible after the 48 HR Chrono stage because it all started for us when we entered the Empty Quarter by stage 5 and we just went full in that day. We won by thirty minutes and then we started first on the 48 HR Chrono stage. On the first twenty kilometres, I wasn’t sure at all, but after those twenty kilometres I just felt it and we went full in, 100%. We made a one-hour gap and since then I knew that I could go at just 90% and we were still winning”.