Rokas Baciuška: “This Dakar is tough”

Dakar 2024 | Stage 8 | AL DUWADIMI > HAIL
January 15 ^th 2024 - 16:44 [GMT + 3]

Rokas Baciuška, last year's winner of what was called the Light Prototype category, is no longer in the limelight this year. At the wheel of his Can-Am, he has suffered the domination of the Taurus machines since the start of the rally. Sixth on stage eight, 8 minutes behind the winner, the Lithuanian is fourth overall, almost an hour and a half behind the leader.  

“The day was very rough with abrupt dunes for 160 km before the transfer. Then we had about 110 km of stones and no punctures, so it was quite a nice day. Tomorrow is another day. It seems like it’s already been one month here on the Dakar. This Dakar is tough. But we are at the finish, we have survived. We are still fighting for the podium. We’ve got four days more and anything could happen to anyone. I will do my best. I’ll push like hell and we will see at the finish. The car is ok. We are struggling a little bit with the set-up. We know that Taurus are a little faster on the straights and we know that we were circling a bit. But so far the car’s reliability is good. We can carry on fighting, you never know. If you remember last year on the last stage with fifty kilometres to the finish I took my fate into my hands. We will try to fight and we will try to push and we will see”.