N° 639 - TEAM FINSTRAL RALLY

PIANA Marco FRA 31/01/1967

TROESCH Christophe FRA 04/11/1971

BOYCHENKO Ivan UKR 13/07/1969

Vehicle

MODEL	MAKE
UNIMOG U500	MERCEDES

When asked about his 8th appearance on the Dakar, Marco Piana doesn’t talk about his truck but rather about the quads that he’ll be assisting. The Frenchman has been devoted for several years to these machines and hopes to see them have a key place in the rally. It is therefore with quite some pride that Marco explains how he launched with the partnership of American brand Polaris, their team of four quads. “On the Dakar, the truck’s objective will be to do everything to help bring as many quads as possible to the finish, to be present to support them”, he announces. “But we, in the truck, are privileged, we might be able to finish in the Top 10!” The reason why Marco is so fond of quads is because he tried the experience during the 2006 Dakar, his best memory of the race: “It’s a lot more difficult, you’re alone. And I had done it without assistance”, he remembers. “I had broken my front suspension on the eve of the finish’’. It is therefore based on that misadventure that the Alsatian with Italian origins, decided to help the quad riders on the Dakar. Concerning the truck, Marco will be driving the same Mercedes Unimog, a little 8.2 ton machine, easier to manoeuvre then the huge trucks that line up at the start of the Dakar: "It’s strong and easy to drive in the dunes". He will be surrounded by Christophe Troesch, his co-driver and mechanic who will witness his first Dakar, and Ukrainian Yuriy Gzebenyuk. “Everything goes well between the three of us”, says Marco. “We did the Transorientale together. There’s a language problem with Yuriy but he’s a great guy and we understand each other differently”.

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