Hard to believe, but it’s a fact: Martin Macik was the winner of the sixth stage of the Dakar 2024 in trucks with over an hour ahead. Although it was a stage that was divided between two days, none of the other categories had such a big difference between first and second, in a truly extraordinary performance by the Czech.
On board an Iveco from MM Technology Team, Macik took 8h35m53s to complete the over 600km timed. Even though he was penalized by 1m10s, he beat Mitchel van den Brink (Eurol Rallysport/Iveco) by 1h05m41s. The Dutchman suffered a 15m00s penalty, as did Ales Loprais (Instaforex Loprais Praga) who finished third, 1h12m40s behind. Janus van Kasteren (Boss Machinery Team de Rooy FTP/Iveco) lost a lot of time with the fourth place, 2h59m56s behind the leader.
After the first week of the race, everything seems well on track for Macik to win: he has a 1h16m42s advantage over Loiprais, with van den Brink in third. Van Kasteren dropped to fourth, and the top five is completed by another Dutchman: Vick Versteijnen (Versteijnen Truck Racing/Iveco). He is already over six hours behind the leader.
Top ten of Stage 6:
Top ten overall:
