The first stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally, starting and finishing in Yanbu, did not bring good news for the Buggyra ZM Racing team.
-- In his Dakar debut, Martin Koloc experienced the harsh reality of the legendary rally. After a combination of demanding terrain and technical problems, he reached the finish in 70th place, more than five hours behind the leaders. His daughter Aliyyah Koloc did not reach the finish of the opening stage at all due to technical issues.
“Unfortunately, in a trial section at a really low speed, I drove over a rock and broke off a front wheel. In my opinion, these kinds of stages require driving extremely slowly. Unfortunately, I don’t have that experience yet. I thought I was driving conservatively. When I arrived at Aliyyah, her car was in the same condition. She also hadn’t hit anything big and suddenly had both wheels broken off. So we stood there, gave her parts, and continued. But after about one kilometer, I also broke off a rear wheel. It must have already been damaged. Nothing happened there either—I was driving slowly,” Martin Koloc evaluated the first stage, from which he also took away an unwanted souvenir.
“While replacing the rear arm, it snapped into my hand and I broke my little finger. What a day. This should never have happened,” Koloc added.
While Martin Koloc at least managed to reach the stage finish, his daughter Aliyyah Koloc had an even more unfortunate day. Her Revo T1+ went from the service intervention point to the bivouac by road, and she therefore did not finish the first stage. She described the situation during the stage as follows: “Approximately between kilometers 80 and 100, there was a very difficult section with really large rocks. I think we were driving very slowly, but we probably hit a rock that damaged the steering, and at the same time we got a puncture. Fortunately, Karel (Poslední) was passing by, helped us change the wheel, and then towed us about 90 kilometers to the service zone. We are very grateful to him for that. We still had roughly 130 kilometers to go to the finish.”
Šoltys’ new colors didn’t bring luck, Poslední towed Aliyyah to the service zone as the “Last angel”
Martin Šoltys was plagued by technical issues and, after a promising start, finished only 28th with a loss of nearly three hours. Karel Poslední, on the other hand, sacrificed his own stage ambitions to help teammate Aliyyah Koloc, towing her to the service area. In the end, that effort resulted in a a final 20th place at the finish.
“For this year we prepared something new in the form of alternating colors. In each stage we will switch the livery between the blue of partner Albixon and white for Bydlení Hořovice. We drove the prologue in blue and it worked out well. I believe the white will bring us luck too,” Martin Šoltys said before the start of the opening stage. At the finish, however, the mood was completely different.
“The first 130 kilometers went perfectly. According to information from the guys, we were running in second to third place, which was great. We tried to drive cautiously, but if you want to keep up with the front runners, you have to take risks sometimes. Unfortunately, one risk didn’t pay off. In a narrow canyon we suddenly cut both tires. We kept going for about two kilometers, but then we heard knocking and the turbo impeller broke. We were stuck there for almost three hours before we managed to change the turbo, because it was red-hot. At least later at night we got to try the dunes, which we passed without any problems. Tomorrow we’ll start again,” Šoltys described the stage.
Karel Poslední also had a very strong pace at the start, but it lasted only until the 90-kilometer mark. “We were flying and overtaking one car after another, including trucks. But at kilometer 90 we came across Aliyyah, who had a puncture and steering problems. We hooked her up and towed her to the service area, so we once again played the role of angels. There’s nothing you can do—that’s Dakar,” Poslední said at the finish, where he and his crew arrived in 20th place, 1:23:29 behind the stage winner.
The Dakar Rally continues on Monday with the second stage from Yanbu to AlUla. Crews will face a 400-kilometer special stage, with liaison sections totaling 104 kilometers. The overall length of the stage is therefore 504 kilometers.
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