Tim and Tom, the two Dutch brothers racing for the Coronel Dakar Team at the ongoing 2024 Dakar Rally Season, met an unwelcome incident near the end of Stage 3, when their car crashed with a KTM motorbike.
Fortunately, both sides were able to resume the race.
Tim Coronel details the crash with Philippe Gendron’s KTM
One of the most interesting aspects of the Dakar Rally is that vehicles from all categories share the same route across the stages, and it’s quite often to see different vehicles encounter each other en route to the finish line.
A similar thing happened on Monday’s stage 3, taking place across the 438 km of stretch between Al Duwadimi and Al Salamiya, when Tim and Tom’s 4×2 Coronel Dakar Team prototype crossed paths with the Nomade Racing KTM motorbike of England’s Philippe Gendron.
Unfortunately, the encounter resulted in a crash towards the end of the third stage. However, both the four and two wheeler parties were seemed to be alright from the collision and were able to finish the race.
In a now-deleted video shared on X, Tim Coronel narrated the entire incident and the difficulties they faced during the race, including two tyre punctures and the broken windshield of their car from the crash.
BIG HIT 💥 with a motorbike and a lot of problems during stage 3… #Dakar2024 #DakarInSaudi #DakarRally
Check it out! ➡️ https://t.co/AN6ciGjxoB
— Tom Coronel (@TomCoronel) January 8, 2024
“Mamma mia. A difficult stage, two punctures, and look at this [at the broken windshield from the impact], it was a motorcycle that came in the opposite direction, the one we were on,” said Tim.
Tim further revealed that his brother Tom was prompt to check up on Gendron immediately after the collision, and even after the race was over.
“We asked him if he was okay, and he was, we checked if he really was, so he came back with his bike. We had a lot of problems in the last 20km, but we finished the stage, and now we have to go to the bivouac,” he added. [H/T Motorsport.com]
Another day, another finish! 💪✅
Part 1 of this marathon DONE, our crew get 2 hours to service 🛠️ the car and then we’ll continue our way to the marathon bivouac.
#DakarRally #DakarInSaudi #Dakar2024 pic.twitter.com/BBAXLkD9by— Tim Coronel (@TimCoronel) January 8, 2024
The Coronel Brothers At The 2024 Dakar Rally
After finishing the eventful third stage at ninth place, the Coroner brothers improved at the fourth stage, jumping up three places to finish at sixth. In the general rankings, they are at 8th place, trailing 2 hours 50 minutes and 02 seconds behind the leaders Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier of the Century Racing Factory Team.
