A quiet warm-up was out of the question for Tim and Tom Coronel. The first stage of the Dakar Rally was immediately a serious one. A few serious hits caused for some tense moments on board the Century CR7. At the end they suffered another tire puncture which caused them to lose about 3 minutes. Tim and Tom were able to limit the damage though, by recording a 35th time at the finish.
“Now I remember why I never want to do this again at the end of the rally,” Tom kicks off with a smile. “Jeez, that was a hell of a start. The stage was tough on the car, we really went through all sorts of things. We took a lot of hits, two of them were seriously hard. We hit a few rocks hard with the bottom of the car and nose-dived once. That gave us a bit of a scare.”
In addition to the bumpy ride for the car, the brothers made a few mistakes along the way. “We drove up a dead-end trail and had to back down. We could only go backwards, which is almost impossible to do with these cars, but we managed. We got down unscathed. We also had a flat tire at the end, which was unfortunate. You just don’t want to lose those 3-4 minutes that it takes to change the wheel. All in all it was a cool experience though,” Tom concludes with a smile. “We lost the left side of the car between all the trees and bushes, but the mirrors are still there! We made a few extra brackets for them.”
Despite the adventures along the way, Tim was able to enjoy the first stage: “Yes, this was a proper Dakar stage. We made a few mistakes, but managed to limit the damage. At least, that’s how it feels. At one moment I stayed on the throttle in the dust. That wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but we made a nice jump. It takes some getting used to, but the car is still okay and we’re up there.”
48-hour stage
Tomorrow marks the start of the 48-hour stage of the Dakar Rally. Spread over two days, the participants have to cover 967 kilometers. Once the clock hits 5 PM, they must stop in the first bivouac they encounter and spend the night there. What will make it extra difficult is the lack of motorcycles on the route; they ride on a segregated course. Tim is looking forward to it: “The car feels good, we’re feeling good. We’re going full throttle to our sleeping spot and back!”
Coronel Dakar Team is supported: LKQ, Era, Optimal, Mascot Workwear, MPM, Eru, JBL, 4Brands, Efulfilment.eu, BS Forklifts, Toolspecial, FEBO, KeukenWarenhuis, Serengeti, Hella, DHG, FMS, Brondool, ChassisParts, Apple King, SuperB, P1, Copernica
