VIDEO – South Africans Stop to Help Car on Fire, Dakar 2015
It’s touted as the toughest and greatest rally in the world, pitting 50 nationalities against each other in some of the world’s most stunning deserts…all united by one core value – “competition and help go hand in hand”. And South African team Johan van Staden and Mark Lawrenson upheld that value when they stopped mid-race […]
It’s touted as the toughest and greatest rally in the world, pitting 50 nationalities against each other in some of the world’s most stunning deserts…all united by one core value – “competition and help go hand in hand”. And South African team Johan van Staden and Mark Lawrenson upheld that value when they stopped mid-race to help a stricken competitor whose car had somersaulted through the air and caught fire.
The video below is rather graphic…but nobody was seriously injured (according to reports). The South Africans appear on the scene in their blue Nissan at about one minute into the video. They are in car number 383.
The race is known as one of the greatest sporting challenges because it is both a motor race and an orienteering challenge; and is a mix of some of the world’s greatest rally drivers against amateur races who are fulfilling a longheld dream. They come from everywhere…in cars, trucks, motorbikes and quadbikes.
Johan first tried his hand at it in 2013 with a rented car, but was forced to quit after he broke the roll cage in a crash.
Johan took a year off to focus on the Dakar. With his co-driver and mate Mark, he has returned this year in a brand new Nissan he now owns. Johan is part of a South African squad supported by ProDakar.
In an interview published on the Dakar website just before the Rally began, Johan said he had spent the last year competing and training “in Botswana and Namibia to get used to the Nissan and prepare it, but it was tough to be away from the Dakar. I believe it was a sensible thing to do. I’ll have the same car as Jurgen Schroder and we’ll be sharing a big team.
“The nice thing is that we’ll have even more South African crew members. For this Dakar, it’s all about finishing. The factor of awareness has changed. I feel mentally prepared especially compared to the first year, when I had had no time to get ready.”
This year’s rally, which is being broadcast in over 190 countries, is being held in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
WATCH VIDEO – South Africans Stop to Help in Dakar
Please note – not for sensitive viewers.