Racing test of Tatra truck was successful, Valtr enjoyed Baja Poland
Jaroslav Valtr behind the wheel of Tatra Phoenix tested the new racing truck’s components to full satisfaction.
„As start of the Dakar approaches, is every racing test more and more important. In Poland, it was crucial for us to test software and hardware improvements on the transmission and engine and new shift maps. Tatra simply has to withstand all the demands of Dakar Rally. Baja Poland brought important data, which now our development team will evaluate,“ said Buggyra’s chief of communication Jan Kalivoda.
Race time wasn’t the most important thing in this three-day rally. But because of development and test every kilometre of the race has counted. Competition, which was part of FIA World Cup and FIA European Cup, had total distance 774,59 km, stages were 491,30 km in total.
Experienced driver Jaroslav Valtr was racing his Tatra Phoenix at full gas. Sometimes he even drove on two wheels. „Buggyra give me the chance to drive their car with automatic transmission. It’s something different to all trucks I was used to race before. Engine is perfect, it has a lot of power. Track in Poland very nice and I really enjoyed my debut with automatic transmission,“ Valter stated.
Jaroslav Valtr chased the whole rally with his son Michal, but he narrowly lost in the end. Michal's performance was great. He don't mind, that lost by four and half minutes. He was very glad that we competed together.
Baja Poland was another point in a carefully lined preparation itinerary of TATRA Buggyra ZM Racing team preparation for Dakar. „Preparation of Tatra trucks for the Dakar Rally is not slowing down. We study all the collected information and focus on those parts of the car that need further improvement before all trucks will travel to Saudi Arabia,“ explained team constructor David Vršecký.
