Summarize

TreasuryONE Motorsport’s Hennie de Klerk and Juan Möhr enjoyed their best day by far at Dakar 2024, as they made up another 25 positions to come home 45th among the four wheelers, and 31st of the car entries. Despite the team’s progress, de Klerk was frustrated after another challenging day at the wheel on the 299 km Stage 4 to Al Hofuf.

“It was difficult because I was never comfortable in the car after we picked up an early puncture,” Hennie explains. “A rocky culvert was not marked in the notes and we hit it pretty hard and punctured the left rear so we had to stop. After that we were nervous to push too hard because we only had one spare left, but the result was pretty good.

“We made up another 25 positions today to come home 31st among the cars despite the challenges of having to pass cars and especially trucks on narrow road sections in thick dust. And we start Wednesday 45th versus 70th on Tuesday, and 157th on Monday, which means we are now among far faster traffic and even better, in the dunes, so we really cannot wait!” 

Hennie and Juan had been on the back foot since the start after a Prologue penalty saw them start at the back. They fought back through the toughest conditions on Saturday, only to drop well back again when the Hilux broke a front propshaft early on, causing Hennie and Juan to stop in the desert, disconnect front drive, and continue out of the dunes with rear drive only. So Monday proved another fight back before Tuesday’s progress.

“Tomorrow is a another short, but hugely demanding 118 km Empty Quarter stage to Shubayatah in the middle of the Arabian Desert. We will be looking for a little more consolidation before the big Chrono stage on Thursday and Friday. The objective for now is steady progress and to get the TreasuryONE Hilux to Riyadh for Saturday’s much needed rest day.”