While back home in the Netherlands, people are still recovering from the New Year’s Eve festivities and perhaps watching the New Year’s Concert and the traditional ski jumping, Team Coronel has arrived in Saudi Arabia at full strength, where final preparations are underway for the start of the Dakar Rally on 3 January. « We are incredibly excited, » say Tim and Tom Coronel on the eve of their tenth joint participation in this gruelling event. « Of course, together with all the team members, we have done everything we can to be optimally prepared for the start. We are full of ambition, we are ready! »
After a very successful send-off day on 23 November at the Coronel Adventure climbing park in Huizen, the cars and equipment were transported to Saudi Arabia. The Coronels’ competition car is the Century CR7 T1+, a car built specifically for rally raids, powered by the proven Audi 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 engine. With 37-inch tyres and a suspension travel of no less than 350 millimetres, the car is ideally suited for use in rough terrain. « And we’re definitely going to encounter that, » say Tim and Tom Coronel, not least thanks to their experience in recent years.
Start and finish at Sea Camp in Yanbu, two marathon stages
This time, the rally will start from the specially constructed Sea Camp, the first bivouac on the coast. « From there, we will do a few tests, followed by the prologue on 3 January and the first stage on 4 January, both starting and finishing in Yanbu. From 5 January, again starting from Yanbu, we will continue for the first week, during which there will be a lot of rocks on the course, » says Tim Coronel. « On 10 January, there will be a rest day in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. From there, the second week will start, with more sand and dunes on the programme, and then back to Sea Camp in Yanbu, where we hope to arrive on 16 January and then drive the final stage the next day. »
New for this year is the so-called ‘refugee bivouac’, one in Alula in the first week and one in Bisha in the second week of the race. This relatively simple bivouac, with virtually no facilities, is a stopover during both marathon stages, where drivers and co-drivers have to work on their cars themselves, without technical assistance from the team. « On the first day, you end up somewhere in the dunes in that basic bivouac and on the second day you drive the rest of the route of that marathon stage, » says Tom Coronel. « So we are completely on our own. »
Corotel as comfortable accommodation
In addition to the competition car, Team Coronel also has a robust Dodge RAM press car to send as many images home as possible, including footage for the daily television broadcasts on Dutch channel RTL7, for which Tom Coronel will again be on dutie as a roving reporter. Together with Etienne Verhoeff, Tim and Tom Coronel also provide a daily podcast about their experiences, both in Dutch and English, available via Spotify, Apple Music and other popular podcast platforms.
A support truck with a detachable mobile workshop is crucial for technical assistance. It contains all the necessary tools and spare parts to keep the race car in good condition. In addition, Team Coronel once again has access to the Corotel, a specially designed mobile accommodation with comfortable facilities where not only Tim and Tom Coronel, but also team members and guests can stay, an ideal way to remain as rested and refreshed as possible during the strenuous rally.
In addition to Tim and Tom Coronel as the competition car line-up, the team consists of six people as a service crew, a team manager, a press coordinator, three mechanics and a truck driver, who also takes care of hospitality. To ensure that the team members and guests have everything they need during the rally, private catering is provided. Tom Coronel gives a few figures: « 1,750 coffee capsules, 250 tins of soup, 2,000 snacks and 2,100 pieces of savoury snacks, all with one goal in mind: to reach the finish line of the rally! That’s what we’re aiming for! »