The Coronel Dakar Team, sponsored by LKQ, are on their way to Saudi Arabia to compete in the most gruelling rally in the world, the 2024 Dakar Rally. Carbon Positive Motorsport will be offsetting the fuel usage of brothers Tim and Tom Coronel's competition car.
The team hosted a farewell day for the hundreds of fans, family members, friends and partners in Huizen where the two driver pairings, Tim and Tom Coronel and Michel Kremer/Thomas de Bois showed off the competition cars, the service trucks with the trailer, and the press car. The farewell day was a new initiative to give the many fans the opportunity to admire the cars up-close and wish the team members well for the upcoming adventure.
The cars and equipment are now on the way to Spain from where the crossing to Saudi Arabia will be made, the country where the Dakar Rally will be held in January. Expectations are high after the successful farewell day.
“We know how many people follow us closely on the TV broadcasts, social media and via the press releases, but of course, Saudi Arabia is far away, so getting a first-hand experience is difficult,” Tim Coronel explained. “Therefore, we wanted to do something extra for our fans, and that is how the idea of the farewell day for the Coronel Dakar Team came up. We are really overwhelmed by the enormous interest.”
Steve Smith, the co-founder of Carbon Positive Motorsport, is a big fan of the Dakar Rally: "Personally I have been a massive Dakar fan for many years now, especially with my own background in rallying. The length and duration of the Dakar stages is immense and staggering. To put it into context, Dakar drivers cover a typical WRC event mileage in one day, over 12 days of special stages... it's all about endurance, survival and a bit of luck to get you to the finish line." Steve Smith continued, "Just to finish Dakar is like a win, and you need tenacious, driven and skilled drivers, co-drivers, cars and well organised teams just to get to the end."
The team have been very busy with preparation of the cars since April. The two competition cars were on display during the farewell day, as well as the team’s two trucks and trailers and the press car. “It really is a large fleet, but there are many things needed for such a rally,” Tim Coronel explained. “In total, there were 25 people who meticulously prepared everything. This morning, 29 November, the fleet left really early in the morning, headed for Barcelona to embark on the transport to Saudi Arabia for the rally. Now it is getting serious!” For Tim and Tom Coronel, anticipation only got bigger during the farewell day: “We can hardly wait to get going again!”
Carbon Positive Motorsport would like to take this opportunity to wish the team the very best of luck for the rally. Steve Smith is very proud to be involved with the Coronale Dakar team sponsored by LKQ: "The total distance of the Dakar 24 is an incredible 7,891 kilometres, of which 4,727 kilometres will be under the pressure of the stopwatch! Tim Coronel's Dakar car fuel usage will amount to around 4,500 litres of fuel. I am very pleased to be working with Tim and his team and Carbon Positive Motorsport will offset every single drop of competition fuel he uses on the event."
You can find all the links to follow the adventures of the Coronel Dakar team here at Linktree
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