The Dakar 2024 began with a 27 km prologue that decided the starting order for the first full stage, which is scheduled for 6th January. Pilot Martin Macik Jr., navigator Frantisek Tomasek and mechanic David Svanda finished sixth in the truck category on the dusty track.

Gentle start to warm up Cenda

The warm-up round of this year’s Dakar was a 27 km long prologue that started near the rock-cut city of Hegra. The route was first through soft terrain that gradually turned rocky and uneven. The MM Technology crew with the Cenda truck started off in dust clouds and rutted terrain, yet tackled the course bravely. “Cenda works great, from a technical point of view there is nothing to complain about. We’ll just dust it off and it’s ready for tomorrow’s first stage”, praises the truck mechanic David Svanda.

The crew was tested by a navigational trap

This year the organizers took their gloves off in the very first race and prepared a navigational trap for the crews. Although the MM Technology team detected it, they did not avoid gaining a minor loss and finished the prologue in sixth place. Nevertheless, Martin Macik Jr., Frantisek Tomasek and David Svanda are full of optimism. “For us, the prologue was mainly a warm-up session, in terms of equipment, driving and navigation. The navigational trap was a bit of a bugger for us, as was the fact that we started right behind J. Van Kasteren, so we were basically in the dust the whole time. That’s when some extra seconds came in. But the important thing is that we have tested everything out in the terrain, our truck is wonderfully prepared and tomorrow we will hit the ground running in the first stage.”, sums up his impressions from the prologue Martin Macik Jr.