Erik van Loon drove a strong first stage in the Dubai International Baja. With flawless navigation from Wouter Rosegaar, he recorded the third-fastest time over the 194-kilometer run through the desert around Al Qudra. In the overall classification, Erik is ninth, an impressive result among the fast T1 cars. For Anja van Loon, the day went less smoothly.
“It went well. Wouter navigated flawlessly and the car was excellent,” says an enthusiastic Erik. The stage didn’t pass without tension. “We had to deal with another driver for a while who was driving quite wildly. At one point we had to brake hard to avoid a collision, but fortunately that went well.”
Just before the finish, however, Erik had to slow down briefly. “One kilometer before the finish the car stopped. The emergency key had popped out and we lost 3 to 4 minutes because of that,” he explains. Without that problem, Erik would have been even closer to the top. “I really never expected this. Very happy with this result.”
For Anja van Loon, the stage went differently. She struggled with a broken drive shaft. “We were going well and things were fine, until the drive shaft broke,” Anja says. “It’s not easy to repair that in the desert and we lost a lot of time with it. But we’re still racing! Hopefully we can drive problem-free tomorrow and really enjoy the last day in Dubai.”
The second and final stage of 191 kilometers is scheduled for Sunday. Erik can fight for a podium finish from a good position, while Anja hopes for a trouble-free day to complete the rally.
