“There was no end to it, we kept rolling. Four, five, six times? I don’t know.” A sandy hill about 5 kilometers from the finish of the seventh stage launched the Century with Tim and Tom Coronel aboard. The car ended up landing on three wheels and missing a wheel and half the bodywork, but luckily both drivers are fine.
“The Dakar is the Dakar: relentless”
Tim Coronel – Dakar Driver
“The Dakar is the Dakar: relentless,” Tim observed. “It was a sand bump of nothing. We were driving 160, 170 and got launched.” The damage to the car was significant. The various parts were scattered everywhere. The entire left front of the car had broken off. After scrambling the whole thing back together, recording the damage and recovering from the initial shock, they decided to see if and how they would reach the finish line.
Repairing on the spot was impossible, the finish line not far away. On three wheels they succeeded and at the finish they were able to hook up with Pascal de Baar’s truck, which towed them to the service park, 94 kilometers away.
There the team had already got everything ready to make the necessary repairs. There was more work than could be done in two hours, but the car was able to get to the marathon bivouac on four wheels. The brothers still received a hefty time penalty, but the fact that they are still in the race in one piece was more important.
“In itself it was a nice stage,” Tom thought. “It also went well, we rode a nice pace. Actually, everything was flowing, until we had a bit of bad luck 5 kilometers before the finish. Unbelievable. Really, unbelievable.”
