The breakage of the engine of his UTV in stage 1 deprived the Argentine Bruno Jacomy, navigator of the Chilean Lucas del Río, from being able to fight for the general. But that did not make them give up, and despite the fact that the problems continued, they were able to re-enlist to continue fighting day by day.
Source: Somos Dakar. Link to the note.
The 2023 Dakar Rally started in the worst way for the Lucas del Río – Bruno Jacomy duo. The South Americans had arrived in Saudi Arabia with great enthusiasm, since they added very good results in the 2022 season and they hoped to be able to capture them in the highest Rally Raid competition.
But the setbacks didn’t take long to harm their race and take them out of the fight for the general classification: “The Dakar hit us cheap from day 1, due to a problem with the UTV. At kilometer 200, the hose came off, spilling all the water at us, and in 5 minutes it broke, which does not happen and is not normal. Since it is something that has happened to us, we had time to stop, pour water on it and continue. This was a combination of a bad hose, and an engine that was not at 100%”, explained the navigator Bruno Jacomy.
“From there we came running in stages, then another day the two gasoline pumps that go inside the tank broke. We couldn’t change them so we had to re-engage twice and we had mechanical problems until the rest day. Repairing and leaving in all stages”, he pointed out about his odyssey.
Despite everything, the team was able to reach the rest day and fight, stage by stage, to score points in the World Rally Raid Championship.
About his team, he commented: “On the rest day they made the new car, new wiring harness, electronics, the same engine, but with everything changed. And that was noticeable because in the first stage, which we started from far behind, we were impeccable. We started in position 180 and finished 70, which leaves us 12th in the category”.
“So we are like this, running in stages, fighting, putting in and taking advantage of the fact that we are here in the Dakar, gathering strength for the next edition”, highlighted the man from Mendoza.
In stage 9, they managed to finish 12th, but that was not all, since both in stage 10 and stage 11 they were the top 10 in their category, the UTV T3.
Now, the team has to go through the most challenging part of the Dakar 2023, the Empty Quarter, which also includes a marathon stage between days 11 and 12. Each completed stage is important to add experiences for the Dakar 2024, which seems far away, but at some point it will come to give revenge.
Text: Luciano Schiffer – Somos Dakar
Photos: MCH