Ales Loprais improves his starting position by taking 7th place in stage 4

Jacobacci, Argentina - January 7, 2008 - Stage 4 of Dakar 2009 with the finish in Neuquen offered a classic dusty and stony Patagonian menu. After two days, Ales Loprais passed it without technical problems at full pace and made a decent position for a further rise in the general ranking.

The special to Neuquen was shortened in the first part due to missing consents of some landowners in the area. Again, it offered a varied mixture of fast and technical sections on a soft surface. Because of a hot sunny weather it was extremely dusty, which made overtaking even more difficult. The special was lead on a narrow track and sometimes in a deep corridor.

Ales started the stage not according to the time from the previous day but from organizers' decision as a 14th truck and made his way up the ranking: "In a certain section we even clocked the 19th fastest time of all cars but after some time we were slowed down by slower competitors whose overtaking was too long and cumbersome. Overtaking of Tomas Tomecek took some 60 kilometers until we got past him. Only with him we lost at least ten minutes," Ales Loprais said.

When the crew was already past Tomecek it was slowed down by another collision, namely with Ginaf No. 518 of Hugo Duisters who drives a rapid assistance for Gerard de Rooy. "It was a technical, rather a trial-type terrain where we had to stop and Duisters had to pull back. He bumped right into Ales' door and tore it up with hooks on his superstructure originally used for fixing of spare tires. A naked rear wall would not cause heavy damages. That way, we have lots to do tonight again," mechanic Milan Holan said.

The team lost 15 minutes again by both incidents. I do not care if these initial losses have put us to the 30th or 40th place. What matters to me is how competitive we are compared to the very top. Once we get back in Top 10 I will concentrate on the final ranking again. In the meantime, we want to be as fast as possible," Ales added.

Even the assistance found an interesting and demanding route, this time fully off-road, on a gravel track. The first part was hard and fast, the second part twisty, bumpy and with 150 kms of feche feche. Many local cars were getting stuck. Karel Loprais found fond memories of his past racing career and drove the press car in a real rally style. Getting stuck was even out of question even if sand was all over the car and sometimes spilled even over the roof.

The city of Neuquen welcomed all rally participants. In harsh, hostile conditions of the windy Patagonia, it makes an impression of a paradise oasis from a different world, getting enough life energy from Rio Negro. Thousands of fans were in the streets again to cheer all rally participants. Girls were writing messages on race vehicles people were passionate and eager to shake hands. The support and passion of the locals are perhaps the mot impressive positive changes in this South American Dakar.

Stage 5 will offer tough terrain again, a 505-kilometer long special with a 20-kilometer final section in dunes.

Jiri Vintr, Loprais Tatra Team, Neuquen

Stage 4 results:

Pos.
No.
Name
Make
Time
Variation
1.
505
DE ROOY (NLD), COLSOUL (BEL), VAN MELIS (NLD)
GINAF
4:20:27
0:00:00
2.
501
CHAGIN (RUS), SAVOSTIN (RUS), NIKOLAEV (RUS)
KAMAZ
4:21:13
0:00:46
3.
506
KABIROV (RUS), BELYAEV (RUS), MOKEEV (RUS)
KAMAZ
4:25:22
0:04:55
7.
502
LOPRAIS (CZE), ŠTAJF (CZE), HOLÁ? (CZE)
TATRA
4:38:39
0:18:12
Overall standings:

Pos.
No.
Name
Make
Time
Variation
Penalty
1.
505
DE ROOY (NLD), COLSOUL (BEL), VAN MELIS (NLD)
GINAF
15:16:41
0:00:00

2.
501
CHAGIN (RUS), SAVOSTIN (RUS), NIKOLAEV (RUS)
KAMAZ
15:26:55
0:10:14

3.
506
KABIROV (RUS), BELYAEV (RUS), MOKEEV (RUS)
KAMAZ
15:29:22
0:12:41

31.
502
LOPRAIS (CZE), ŠTAJF (CZE), HOLÁ? (CZE)
TATRA
21:17:29
6:00:48
15:00