Dakar

Dakar: Kwikpower Mercedes state 11 report

Following an undeserved crash, Lohr wants to battle her way to the finish, supported by the service Unimog Mali -- For Ellen Lohr, today's leg represented another proof of the fact that the good Mercedes-Benz service is crucial, in the Dakar ...

Published: Jan 12, 2006, 11:36 PM

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Following an undeserved crash, Lohr wants to battle her way to the finish, supported by the service Unimog

Mali -- For Ellen Lohr, today's leg represented another proof of the fact that the good Mercedes-Benz service is crucial, in the Dakar Rally. 50 kilometres into the special stage, a competitor collided with Lohr's M-Class rally prototype on the tight and twisting road from Kayes to Bamako, resulting in a broken left drag link and left drive shaft on Lohr's car. In normal circumstances, the team's service Unimog would have reached the scene of the accident within two hours -- with the necessary spare parts aboard. Yet, today the Unimog had to cope with a truly huge challenge before the repair works on Lohr's rally car could begin. Caused by the accident of another service truck, the track had been blocked for trucks and the leg was nullified.

While the other trucks drivers returned, the three-man crew of the Mercedes-Benz Unimog U 400 battled its way to Ellen Lohr and her co-pilot, Detlef Ruf. And as soon as driver Udo Kuhn and his co-pilots, Markus Reiter and Jens Liesner, arrived they began to repair the rally car.

Ellen Lohr: "It's just impossible to describe the achievements of the Unimog crew. On a track that had been declared impassable they succeeded in battling their way to us, something only a Unimog can do. Without them, the rally would have been over for us, today. But even with the support of our service Unimog, we will have to stand a truly tough test, when our car will be repaired, as there are still 600 kilometres to go to the next bivouac; most of it during the night. We will cover this distance in a convoy with the Unimog crew and give our very best to be there in time for the start of the next special stage in taking place in Bamako, Mali."

-kwikpower-

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