Ales Loprais, accompanied by teammates David Kripal and Darek Rodewald, triumphed in the tenth stage of the Dakar Rally 2025, marking their fourth victory in the truck category this year and their second consecutive win.
The tenth stage took participants on a demanding route from Haradh to Shubaytah. Activity at the bivouac began in the early hours of Wednesday, January 15, with support vehicles embarking on their journey toward the vast Empty Quarter at approximately 3:30 a.m.
Competitors faced a lengthy 520-kilometer connection section to reach Shubaytah. From there, they tackled a challenging but shorter selective stage, comprising a 120-kilometer loop almost entirely through dunes. Navigating the broken dunes demanded precision, as a misstep could lead to a poor landing, a rollover, or vehicles becoming mired in the deep, shifting sand—potentially costing valuable minutes to dig out.
The difficulty of the stage was reflected in the time recorded by the InstaTrade Loprais Team De Rooy FPT crew, who emerged victorious. They completed the course in 2 hours, 22 minutes, and 41 seconds, achieving an average speed of just 50 km/h.
“Although the stage wasn’t long, it was fully set in the dunes, making it extremely tough,” said David Kripal. “The sharp dunes made navigation challenging, especially as some sections had already been damaged by earlier vehicles. Despite this, we managed to finish first, which is great, although our lead over Mitchel van den Brink was less than a minute—we were hoping for more.”
Loprais and his team won the stage by a narrow margin of 48 seconds over van den Brink. In the overall truck category standings, Loprais remains in third place but is now just 4 minutes and 8 seconds behind van den Brink, who holds second position.
The penultimate stage of Dakar 2025, scheduled for Thursday, January 16, will also be a loop stage, starting and finishing in Shubaytah. This time, the selective section will be slightly longer than Wednesday’s for most competitors, except for the trucks. The organizers have arranged a separate 130-kilometer route for the truck category.
This separation ensures that trucks won’t encounter delays caused by slower buggies or inexperienced drivers getting stuck. However, the top truck teams must rely entirely on their navigation skills without following tracks left by vehicles in other categories. Loprais’ crew, driving the Iveco #601, will lead the trucks at the start.
David Kripal expressed his concerns about the upcoming stage: “Tomorrow, it’s only dunes in the Empty Quarter, and trucks will follow a separate route. Starting first means we’ll have to find our way entirely on our own. It’s a risky task because any navigation mistake can cost a lot of time. We’ll need to come up with a solid strategy and give it everything we’ve got. Nothing is certain until we cross the final kilometer.”
LOPRAIS TATRA TEAM & DAKAR CLASSIC
Meanwhile, participants in the Dakar Classic category completed their selective section on Wednesday during the transfer from Haradh to Shubaytah. Their stage included two regularity tests and two navigation challenges.
Driving a replica of the iconic Tatra 815-2 “Puma,” Igor Pazdera, Olga Lounova, and Milan Holan entered the stage as leaders in the H2 Truck group. Their teammates, Jiri Husek, Lubomír Dockal, and Dominik Holan, followed in second place with their meticulously restored Tatra 815 4×4 HAS. The two Loprais Tatra Team vehicles were separated by 738 points, with third-placed Stefano Calzi of Italy trailing by 5,123 points.
Both Tatra teams performed admirably on Wednesday, incurring only a small number of penalty points across all four tests. The “firefighter truck” outperformed slightly in navigation, while the “Puma” excelled in regularity. In total, Pazdera’s crew ended the day with just 13 fewer penalty points than Husek’s team.
