“It feels like the racing spirit will be back”

In the absence of the mighty Kamaz, it's going to be a fascinating Dakar in the trucks but Martin Macik has enough experience to know that conquering the world's toughest rally will be anything but straightforward. In his 11th Dakar, the 33-year-old has a golden opportunity to become the first Czech winner since the late, great Karel Loprais in 2001, but he will still face stiff competition from the likes of Janus van Kasteren, Martin van den Brink and Karel's nephew Ales Loprais. Martin began his Dakar career as a navigator for Vlastimil Vildman in 2013, getting behind the wheel himself in 2015 and coming as high as fourth in 2021. For this 2023 edition, he will no longer be competing for the Big Shock Racing team he set up with his father Martin Sr six years ago. Instead he will be running under the MM Technology banner, driving a brand-new truck with a brand-new colour scheme: orange and black, instead of his customary yellow and black. It's been another busy year at the MM Technology workshops in Sedlcany, with Martin's team also building a new truck for Italian driver Claudio Bellina. At the Dakar, they will be providing support for the Firemen Dakar team and Kees Koolen, the man they helped lift the World Rally-Raid Championship title in 2022. Martin is convinced that his new machine, nicknamed ‘Čenda’, is one of the best his team has ever built. With his usual wingmen Frantisek Tomasek and David Svanda, the charismatic Czech is now hoping to make it a Dakar to remember as he goes in search of that elusive victory.

M.M.: “This will be a different Dakar, but not only because Kamaz aren't there. Everyone's talking about it. If I had a euro for every time someone has said, “You're going to win!”... It's Dakar! It's not that easy to win a rally that lasts 15 days and 10,000 kilometres. You need to survive it first, race it with no problems. It's not as easy as it looks! It will be up and down every day. I'm really looking forward to it, because nobody knows anything, nobody can predict anything. I'm sensing a bit of relief from the competitors; it feels like the racing spirit will be back. Everyone is happy to be racing against each other, but still to be friendly and enjoying it together. We've built two new trucks at MM Technology, nicknamed Čenda and Jenda; Bellina will have Jenda and we'll be in Čenda. They're the best two trucks we've ever built. It was so fun driving at the Rallye du Maroc. When everything went to plan, I was able to go unbelievably fast. We won in Morocco, which is always great of course. We wanted to win the W2RC too, but unfortunately -and I suppose fortunately, because we support him- Kees Koolen won it, so everybody did a good job. Kees could have beaten me in Morocco, which proves that last year's truck is as competitive as the new one. The biggest difference is that our truck is new. All the materials are new, everything's in the best possible shape. We had to make some changes to the engine. We had some problems at last year's Dakar that cost us a top five overall, maybe even a top three. It was really annoying because we couldn't race with 100% power. It's my 11th Dakar but I'm only 33, man! I want to do my best. I'm going there to race, and I want to be as good as I can be."