MAN leg 1 Saturday report

The team has caught a bug!

Our team has not only got the Dakar bug, now they also have the kind of bug you want to see a doctor for. Fortunately we have Dieter Thomas in the team who has brought an entire pharmacy along in his bag. That sure came in handy as Marcel van Vliet left the cabin of his VeKa MAN rather sick at the end of the stage yesterday. Immediately he went to see doctor Dieter who handed him a few pills, after which Marcel fell into a deep sleep on the massage table. He had done the day in "auto pilot mode" as he had to much of a head ache and pain in his chest to get the best out of the truck. "At times on the stage I felt like throwing up", Marcel confessed on arrival in Cordoba. "A few hours of sleep will do me good", he ended on a positive note.

Some moments later Franz Echter arrived at the bivouac and judging by the sound of his voice he had caught it too. The day before he was already feeling somewhat under the weather so he did not start the day all fresh and fit. On the other hand Bernard was feeling better again after his struggle with this virus. Bernard's recovery was not the only good news. The fact that all three VEKA MAN trucks have completed the day in one piece was something to be proud of. Other teams were less fortunate on the dramatic opening day of the rally. "When you look at which teams are already on their way back home we can say we did a good job", team manager Fred was happy to note. Franz came in seventh, Marcel tenth and Peter and his crew finished seventeenth on this first day of judgement.