Uñt’ayata: 05.01.2022
This is the 'Dakar'.. every day everything can suddenly be different:
In the prologue, both trucks were still in the top ten, then on the 2nd day
several hours ! time loss for Gerd, due to turbo damage and a minor dune accident, Pascal's truck is doing fine, on the 3rd day Gerd is catching up very well, in 14th place, Pascal in 11th place, today Gerd in 5th place! Pascal is still in the desert at night - oil pan among other things broken..
The team doctor has more work now - knees, elbows, neck, back, headaches, diarrhea, etc. .. it adds up.
Today, with the press guys from GPT Rally and Rally- Maniacs
got up at 5:00 and drove into the desert. The photographers have orders from the teams - take good photos among other things for the sponsors, etc. So a few hundred kilometers drive to the rally track off-road. The press people - including me - receive GPS coordinates for so-called viewpoints from the race management every morning at 5:30 am - beautiful spots where you can see the rally vehicles well.
The approach there is given in 3 levels of difficulty - today was level 1 . But level 1 was already tough with Roel's off-road Touareg over rocks and stones. But then sunrise in the desert and the fun with the racers could begin.
Spectacular jumps, etc..
In the evening then off to the capital city of Riyadh