Dakar

2024 Dakar Rally: Martin Macik Jr. finally breaks through for Truck triumph

5 Mins read
Credit: Frederic Le Floc'h/DPPI

Martin Macík Jr. hoped to shake off a frustrating 2023 campaign when he came up just short in the Dakar Rally despite winning five stages, then was disqualified from the World Rally-Raid Championship for a noncompliant turbocharger restrictor. While the Truck category no longer has a W2RC trophy, he still achieved his dream of holding up the Bedouin trophy in 2024.

Defending winner and world champion Janus van Kasteren presented himself as the early favourite to repeat when he won three of the first four stages as well as the Prologue, while Macík seemed destined for more trouble when he won Stage #3 only to be slapped with over half an hour in time penalties a day later for missing two waypoints. However, Macík played his cards right during the 48-hour Chrono Stage and got out of the Empty Quarter scot-free, while van Kasteren suffered a mechanical failure during the second day. Although he salvaged a fourth-place run, he still finished three hours behind Macík.

Macík not only survived the Chrono Stage to take the overall lead, but did so in convincing fashion as the leg’s runner-up Mitchel van den Brink was an hour back. Van den Brink also received a fifteen-minute penalty for missing a waypoint, further driving him back. Aleš Loprais, who had been tailing Macík in the overall, moved up to second but was 1:16:42 exiting the Chrono Stage.

With such a healthy cushion, Macík simply needed to complete the second half of the rally without trouble Loprais and van den Brink were left fighting with one another for second. Although the latter won Stage #8, a broken transmission mounting rod and jack failure while fixing a flat tyre in Stage #10 effectively prevented him from catching Loprais for the spot.

Although Macík only won one stage during the second half of the rally, he finished runner-up in every stage from the eighth through eleventh to further build his advantage. Even as Loprais won the final two days and Macík finished fifth on the twelfth leg, Macík still beat him by nearly two hours.

Macík is the first Czech driver to win the Dakar’s truck category since Loprais’ uncle Karel in 2001. IVECO also now has a two-race win streak, the first time a manufacturer besides KAMAZ—who remains barred from entering as is MAZ—has won the class consecutive in consecutive years since the older Loprais with Tatra in 1998 and 1999.

“I’ve already used up all my emotions so I’m not gonna pour it all out there, but it was incredible,” said Macík at the finish. “We crossed the finish line, I was searching for words for a while and then it all started to come out. My dad arrived, it took him a while but he got here, and then we just shared out feelings in a way that you don’t see very often. I’ve been thinking about the last 23 years, my dad decided to race in the Dakar, and here we are as the victors.”

While not a win, Aleš Loprais still notched his best career finish with his last Dakar podiums being a pair of thirds in 2007 and 2008. It was a strong rebound after he elected to withdraw from the 2023 race while leading following the death of a spectator. He also recorded the first Dakar podium for Praga.

Like his father Martin in 2023, van den Brink finished third for his maiden podium, beating van Kasteren for the last spot by an hour. Martin was eliminated from contention by a rollover in Stage #2.

Teruhito Sugawara tied his best finish as the lead driver of sixth, equalling his 2018 effort. While he and his Hino 600 were navigating the dunes of Saudi Arabia in the official Dakar Rally, father Yoshimasa was concurrently competing in the ‘other’ Dakar rally, the Africa Eco Race that follows the Dakar’s original route. Teruhito’s finish continued the family-led Hino team’s streak of completed Dakars to thirty-three in a row.

Gert Huzink‘s hybrid Renault truck missed the top ten in eleventh, but managed to win two stages. Pascal de Baar, who beat him for tenth, used to race for Huzink’s team before taking over Buggyra Racing‘s new Tatra Buggyra Evo3 in relief of the injured Martin Šoltys.

Behind the two, Anja Van Loon was twelfth in her first Dakar in a truck. She led an all-female crew with Floor Maten and Marije van Ettekoven, the second such team to race a truck after Véronique Jacquot, Géraldine Brucy, and Uta Baier finished twenty-ninth in 2004.

“I am so happy and proud,” Van Loon stated. “It was a really tough rally, but together with Floor and Marije we drove almost flawlessly. This is truly a dream come true. We came here to finish and now we just finished twelfth overall, which is better than I could have hoped for. I am very proud of those girls, what a great achievement this is.”

Truck overall standings

FinishNumberDriverCo-DriverMechanicTeamClassTimeMargin
1601Martin Macík Jr.František TomášekDavid ŠvandaMM TechnologyT5.154:34:48Leader
2602Aleš LopraisJaroslav Valtr Jr.Jiří StrossInstaForex Loprais Praga TeamT5.156:29:27+ 1:54:39
3603Mitchel van den BrinkMoisès TorrallardonaJarno van de PolEurol Rally SportT5.159:04:14+ 4:29:26
4600Janus van KasterenDarek RodewaldMarcel SnijdersBoss Machinery Team de RooyT5.159:56:52+ 5:22:04
5622Michiel BecxWulfert van GinkelEdwin KuijpersBecx Team de RooyT5.166:09:20+ 11:34:32
6609Teruhito SugawaraHirokazu SomemiyaYuji MochizukiHino Team SugawaraT5.171:57:42+ 17:22:54
7610Claudio BellinaBruno GottiMarco ArnolettiMM TechnologyT5.173:07:22+ 18:32:34
8617Ben de GrootGovert BoogaardAd HofmansDe Groot SportT5.175:01:26+ 20:26:38
9607Richard de GrootJan HulseboschMartijn Johannes Martinus van RooijFiremen DakarteamT5.1101:36:17+ 47:01:29
10605Pascal de BaarGiso VerschoorTomáš ŠikolaTatra Buggyra ZM RacingT5.1110:40:35+ 56:05:47
11615Gert HuzinkMartin RoesinkRob BuursenJongbloed Dakar TeamT5.1115:41:59+ 61:07:11
12618Anja Van LoonFloor MatenMarije van EttekovenLadies Team de RooyT5.1117:21:01+ 62:46:13
13635Michal ValtrJaroslav MiškolciRadim KaplanekValtr Racing TeamT5.1118:31:21+ 63:56:33
14637Miklós KovácsPéter CzeglédiLászló ÁcsQualisport RacingT5.1119:51:4965:17:01
15611Gerrit ZuurmondTjeerd van BallegooyKlaas KwakkelRainbow Truck TeamT5.1124:12:54+ 69:38:06
16628Gianandrea PellegrinelliGiulio MinelliCarlo GaldiniMM TechnologyT5.1134:04:56+ 79:30:08
17619Albert LloveraMargot LloberaMarc TorresFesh Fesh TeamT5.1143:42:39+ 89:07:51
18604Jaroslav ValtrRené KiliánDavid KilianTatra Buggyra ZM RacingT5.1146:56:30+ 92:21:42
19606Martin van den BrinkJan van der VaetRijk MouwEurol Rally SportT5.1153:52:19+ 99:17:31
20626Daniel StiblikLukáš KvasnicaJiří TomecTatra Buggyra ZM RacingT5.1190:04:44+ 135:29:56
DNF608Victor VersteijnenAndre van der SandeTeun van DalVerteijnen Truck RacingT5.1DNFN/A
DNF613Vaidotas PaškevičiusAlbert VeliamovicGytis GaspariūnasFesh Fesh TeamT5.1DNFN/A
DNF614Egbert WingensGerard van VeenendaalPhilipp RettigTeam Boucou Assistance (South Racing Can-Am)T5.2DNFN/A
DNF616Igor BouwensSyndiely WadeUlrich BoerboomGregoor Racing TeamT5.1DNFN/A
DNF620William de GrootTom BrekelmansJos van der PasDe Groot SportT5.1DNFN/A
DNF623Pep SabatéPol TibauJordi Montaner BusquetsTibau Team (Bahrain Raid Xtreme)T5.1DNFN/A
DNF624Steven RotsaertBenny RaesLins DidierRTS Racing (Overdrive Racing)T5.1DNFN/A
DNF625Alberto HerreroSusana Hernando InesMario RodríguezTH-Trucks TeamT5.1DNFN/A
DNF627Jérémie DemartyPhilippe PedechePhilippe PerryTeam Boucou AssistanceT5.1DNFN/A
DNF629Michael BaumannPhilipp BeierSebastian LindnerQ Motorsport TeamT5.1DNFN/A
DNF630Dave BerghmansSam KoopmannBob GeensOverdrive RacingT5.1DNFN/A
DNF631Jordi EsteveFrancisco José Pardo BenitoRaul Arteaga RodriguezTibau Team (X Rally Team)T5.1DNFN/A
DNF632Guillaume ManelpheJean-François CazèresNicolas FallouxTeam Boucou AssistanceT5.1DNFN/A
DNF633Tariq Al-RammahSamir BenbekhtiJohn CockburnSTA CompetitionT5.1DNFN/A
DNF634Thomas RobineauSylvain LalicheJérémie GimbreTeam Land Cruiser Toyota Auto BodyT5.2DNFN/A
DNF636Cesare RicklerAldo de LorenzoDario de LorenzoTH-Trucks TeamT5.2DNFN/A
DNF638Didier MonseuCharly GotlibEdouard FraipontBahrain Raid XtremeT5.2DNFN/A
DNF639Manuel BorreroEmilio Fiz del TesoJuan Francisco Silva PiñeiroTibau Team (YunXiang Racing)T5.2DNFN/A
DNF640Norbert SzalaiFrédéric BecartPavel FaskoTeam SSPT5.2DNFN/A
DNF641Zsolt DarazsiPierre CalmonTibor LenerTeam SSPT5.2DNFN/A
DNF642Alberto RomeroAlejandro MozuelosGustavo Ibas PerezTH-Trucks Team (Sodicars Racing)T5.2DNFN/A
DNF643Dusan RandysekVictor BouchwalderLaurent LalanneTeam SSPT5.2DNFN/A
DNF644Francesc Ester FernandezJavier JacosteJosé María FontdevilaTH-Trucks TeamT5.2DNFN/A
DNF645Marco PianaDavid GiovannettiPaco FernandezXtremeplusT5.2DNFN/A
DNF646Sebastien FargeasEric SimoninArmando LoureiroTeam Boucou AssistanceT5.2DNFN/A
DNF648Dave IngelsJens SchölerJohannes SchotanusQ Motorsport TeamT5.1DNFN/A
DNF651Ahmed BenbekhtiBruno SeilletMickael FauvelSTA Competition (Rebellion Racing)T5.2DNFN/A

Truck stage winners

StageDriverTime
PrologueJanus van Kasteren19:34
Stage #1Janus van Kasteren4:55:25
Stage #2Janus van Kasteren4:36:12
Stage #3Martin Macík Jr.5:01:08
Stage #4Janus van Kasteren3:00:49
Stage #5Martin Macík Jr.1:52:25
Stage #6Martin Macík Jr.8:35:53
Stage #7Martin Macík Jr.5:40:52
Stage #8Mitchel van den Brink3:38:27
Stage #9Gert Huzink5:04:34
Stage #10Gert Huzink3:40:39
Stage #11Aleš Loprais5:18:50
Stage #12Aleš Loprais1:56:41
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Justin is not an off-road racer, but he writes about it for The Checkered Flag.
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