Lu Ningjun of Rely Fleet Ranks Top 30, Leading Chinese Teams in Dakar Rally

On Jan. 9, local time, the 2010 Dakar Rally entered the official rest day in Antofagasta, Chile. After 8 days of competition, the drivers have finished a mileage of 5235km out of the total length of more than 9000km. After traveling through Argentina and the Andes, the drivers have undergone many different terrains, including gravel, sand, rock, desert and swamp roads, etc in the South American continent and along the Pacific.

The veteran of Chery Rely Fleet, Lu Ningjun keeps in a very good condition, finishing the 29th overall and continuing the leading position among all Chinese teams. After the T4 truck retired on the 6th day of the race, Lu thought that, the latter half of the rally would be more difficult without supporting maintenance. Later, after emergency discussion, the fleet soon made adjustments, which was to adjust traveling speed to ensure the completion of race and avoid breakdown. Thereafter, the overall performance of Rely Fleet was very steady. And, on the 4th and 5th day of the race, the other driver of the Fleet, Jiang Yaohuan finished the leg smoothly with the help of local people and the coordination of the whole team after encountering insufficient fuel supply and clutch malfunction.

Although it is the first time that the Rely Fleet competes with many other classic off-road vehicles in Dakar, the world’s toughest race, the racing vehicle of the fleet, Rely X5 gives outstanding performance in the previous 8 legs. With its excellent power and control performances and stability, X5 passed the sandstone roads in bad weather in Cordoba and the highly dangerous stony roads smoothly, and conquered the soft dunes, grassland and sand hills. When crossing the Andes, the vehicle helped Lu Ningjun finish the leg successfully with a good result of 2h 38m 30s. Lu Ningjun said, the outstanding performance of X5 in the race was much unexpected to him.

After the short rest, the drivers will set out again from the camp in Antofagasta on Jan. 10 to finish the rest of the rally, and they will pass through Copiapo, La Serena and the capital of Chile, Santiago. Later on, they will drive across the Andes again, and arrive in San Juan, San Rafael and Santa Rosa. At last they will return to Buenos Aires on Jan. 16. After 8 days of fierce competition, the latter half of the race will be more crucial and much harder for the drivers and vehicles. We hope that all drivers can finish the race smoothly after they restart. Also, we expect that Chery Rely Fleet can fulfill its dream and achieve good results. Let’s continue to focus on the Chinese power in Dakar!

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