During the seventh stage of the Dakar Rally, Tim and Tom Coronel encountered everything. It was a tough stage on a varied terrain with stones and dunes, but also difficult navigation. The brothers made no mistakes along the way and finished just in the daylight. Tim had thought that the organization would be a bit nice after the rest day, but that was not the case.
Tim and Tom were happy to have reached the finish of another tough stage. “I expected them to be a little nicer after the rest day,” says Tim. “They immediately went full throttle again, but the stage again had everything. Dunes, stones, navigation and wadis. The navigation was really important and it was good, otherwise we wouldn’t have reached the finish yet. So, we are happy with today and that we are moving forward again.”
Since the stage was long, the team had installed Hella lights on the car just to be on the safe side. “We switched them on for the last five minutes in the twilight,” says Tom. “We had estimated that we might come in just after dark, but it went well. The navigation was difficult and there were some tricky points.”
In addition to the difficult navigation, Tim and Tom also passed through beautiful dunes. “It was one of the toughest stages, after that 48-hour stage. Also with large dunes again. But we had no problems, no flat tires and no mistakes. So, it was a tough but good day for us.” Tim and Tom have moved up to 22nd position in the general classification.
The eighth stage goes from Al Duwadimi to Ha’il with a long stage divided into two parts. The first part is 165 kilometers long, followed by a connection of 179 kilometers and the last part is 114 kilometers. The route is again varied with sand, stones and dunes.
