STAT OF THE DAY: TIED ON 19
It has taken a while for Marti Macik to get going this year. Indeed, he waited for the fourth stage to win and take the lead in the overall rankings. By winning stage five the very next day, he has increased his number of successes on specials on the Dakar to 19, which is exactly the same number as Ales Loprais. However, this parity struggles to conceal the ascendancy achieved by the younger of the two Czech drivers, who, on the last two editions, has managed to add his name to the list of winners, while his elder countryman has been chasing such an accolade for nearly 20 years. To be precise, Ales Loprais drove his first Tatra truck on the last African edition of the Dakar, finishing in 3rd position and picking up his first stage win in the bargain. He then for a long time had to endure the domination of the Russian Kamaz trucks, though he has resumed collecting stage successes at a more regular rhythm since 2023, also improving his results in the overall rankings, such as the 2nd place achieved in 2024 behind Janus van Kasteren. Compared to this journey, Macik’s progress has been much faster, as he took the wheel of his first truck on the Dakar in 2015.
