Summarize

Hennie de Klerk and Juan Möhr’s tough Dakar 2024 continued into the second day as the TreasuryONE Motorsport Toyota Hilux T1+ duo once again fought their way home through the dust and dark on Sunday evening to the finish of the stage in Al Duwadimi after 469 km of racing. 

After incurring a harsh penalty for a minor navigation error on Friday’s Prologue, the team started well down behind many slower cars and  trucks at the back of the pack and fought back through the toughest conditions on Saturday. Sunday brought no relief when the Hilux broke a front prop shaft early in the day, causing Hennie and Juan to stop in the desert, disconnect front drive and continue with rear drive only. 

“These were probably the toughest two days of racing in Dakar that I can remember,” 2018 Dakar rookie winner Hennie pondered. “We were unlucky in the Prologue and that put us on the back foot on Saturday, but we fought back well. Sunday brought another challenge when a front prop joint failed. It was a new unit and properly serviced, so we are not sure why it broke, but that’s just luck of the draw.

“Anyway, we lost a whole lot of time as we disconnected the front differential in the middle of the desert, but we still had a to drive out of the dunes and that also took a considerable amount of time with rear drive only. Later we also had to swap a rear side shaft that failed under the extra load. Once out of the dunes, we were able to push into the night as there was very little traffic because we were so far back, but we were delighted to finish in the end. It’s been a huge challenge, but here we are!

“Dakar is far tougher this year and we are just two days in and already it’s been a massive adventure. Monday is the first day of the marathon stage and we only have two hours to service tonight, so it’s important to play it safe today. We have to thank our team for all the effort after another slog late into last night, but we are ready to start, so all good!”

Monday sees a monster 733 km drive to Al Salamiya comprising 438 km of racing with limited service in the middle of Dakar 2024’s 740 km two-day Marathon stage.