Ben de Groot became the most unlucky person of the Dakar Rally on Monday. The truck driver collided with a local car and saw his rally go up in smoke. With a broken thumb, he said after his collision that this was probably his last adventure with the truck in the toughest rally in the world. “I didn’t really want to go.”
Two years ago, De Groot broke the thumb of his right hand. This Monday it was his left thumb’s turn. After a collision with a local car, partly due to technical defects in his truck, his Dakar Rally was over.
“We drove through a bend at about 100 kilometers per hour. And suddenly there was a local stuck in the sand. I couldn’t brake anymore and we crashed at full speed.”
“He can thank Allah that he is still alive.”
The truck driver from Den Bosch initially did not dare to get out because he was afraid that there was something serious with the driver of the car. “But he was really lucky. He was using his shovel to get his car loose. Fortunately he was not in front or behind the car. Otherwise he would have been dead,” De Groot says a few hours after the accident. “He also prayed a lot afterwards. He can also thank Allah that he is still alive.”
The fruit and vegetable seller can hardly blame himself. “The desert is so big. What are the chances that a local will be stuck in the bend in our area? Who comes up with it…”
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What is extra painful is that brothers Ben and William wanted so badly to finish together this year. “I didn’t even really want to go,” says Ben. “But my brother wanted it so badly. So we went together again to finish together. Then it’s sad that it doesn’t work out again.”
Last year William crashed his truck. The year before, Ben also had to leave the Dakar Rally with a broken thumb.
Also read: End of Dakar Rally for Ben de Groot after collision with local car
The accident in the rally on Monday seems to be Ben de Groot’s last achievement in the truck. “I think I’ll stop doing that,” he concludes. “The adventure is over for a while. But never say ‘never’”.
The driver must have surgery within seven weeks and will have it done in the hospital in Den Bosch. As a result, he will return to the Netherlands on a flight as soon as possible. “I already had a crooked hand, but another crooked one could be added. It’s part of the Dakar but it’s really disappointing.”
This year, Omroep Brabant is also closely following the Dakar Rally. Watch a new episode of Bivak Brabant Dakar every evening on YouTube and in the morning on TV and don’t miss any of the adventures of the Brabant participants in the desert.
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