Albert Llovera-Àlex Haro (Buggy Optimus MD) have overcome all the issues that have arised on these days of scrutineering, both administrative and technical, and they were finally able to climb the podium in the Plaza de Mayo of Buenos Aires (Argentina) to start their first Dakar as a team. It is Llovera’s third time at the Dakar, whilst his navigator debuts on 2015 in the South American raid.
As it has been mentioned, Llovera has been working hard for weeks to be able to climb the podium in the Plaza de Mayo. All in all, however, these days previous to the beginning of the race are perhaps the hardest ones in many aspects: We come from the Andorran winter and arrive here in Argentina in the middle of summer, with high humidity, 4 hours of time difference and, above all, a great amount of procedures to overcome before we can start racing. These three days in the waiting zone at Tecnopolis have been very long, here is what Albert had to add: I have to say that when the beginning of the race is so close what you really want to do is get in the car and step on the throttle. It is also true that the help of my team has made it easier to get everything ready in this final stretch before the race when doubts can be overwhelming.
It is worth mentioning that Albert Llovera is once again part of MD Rallye Team, a huge team with 8 buggies in the competition, 2 protos which serve as quick roadside assistance and 3 trucks that will carry all the spare parts necessary to keep all the vehicles in the race.
After smoothly going through the start podium, where the Andorran driver received the unconditional support of all the fans, Albert parked his buggy 367 in the parc ferme waiting for the beginning of the first stage (4th January) between Buenos Aires and Villa Carlos Paz. The city of Varadero will be the starting point of the special stage of only 175km. It is also worth mentioning that the teams will drive most of the 663 km of the road section on the freeway.
Press service.
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