Team Coronel, comprising of twin brothers, Tim and Tom Coronel, competed in the 2021 Dakar Rally in a new-and-improved version of “The Beast” and managed to secure their best result in history of 26th place, on Maxxis Tyres.
Featuring 37×12.5-17 Maxxis Trepador tyres (M8060, 8PR, 124Q), specially constructed just for the Dakar rally, The Beast is a high-powered buggy designed to endure the toughest of conditions throughout the duration of the Dakar Rally and this year, once again, Team Coronel did not disappoint.
A total of 12 gruelling stages across Saudi Arabia made up the race from the third to the fifteenth of January, covering approximately 4,767 km. The Coronel Brothers were immediately off to a good start after watching cars roll around them creating damage, punctures, and other issues. The brothers opted to slip neatly through the busy opening stage, making no mistakes, staying out of trouble and keeping The Beast as safe as possible.
By the end of stage two, Team Coronel were in 39th place and were building confidence; “A great day. What a great stage. Mountains, valleys, dunes like apartment buildings, hard sand, soft sand: everything was there. The car feels better and better. Even in the dunes with 400 litres of petrol on board. That’s hard work for The Beast!” – Tom Coronel.
As each stage passed, the brothers continued to creep up the table and by the end of play of stage five, they had crept up to the top 30 and finished 34th in the general standings.
By the time Rest Day arrived, they were able to breathe a sign of relief: “I enter the second week with great confidence,” says Tom. “We can build up a little more speed, but above all we must also ensure that we ourselves do not sacrifice too much pace due to small problems. If we can stop losing unnecessary time and take advantage of the mistakes of others – because there will be a lot of mistakes in the group ahead of us – we can still win some places. A higher pace can also mean that we don’t have too many trucks in front of us, because they make driving considerably more difficult.”
After relatively smooth stages seven and eight, Team Coronel endured a tough stage nine. The route took Tim and Tom Coronel up into the mountains, through valleys and over winding, rocky paths for nearly 465 kms. By driving smart, relying on the Maxxis Trepadors and above all remaining patient, the twins managed to finish in 25th place and climbed two more places in the general standings.
After some tyre pressure issues in stage ten, 38th position was not what everyone had grown accustomed to from Tim and Tom Coronel in the Dakar 2021. They did have a bit of bad luck in the form of an inflation-system-based puncture and they had to drive a little more carefully as a result.
The eleventh stage of Dakar 2021 was a confirmation that the home stretch is not a walk in the park. The penultimate day was, as Tim Coronel described it on arrival at the bivouac at Yanbu, “a real, tough Dakar day”. Tim and Tom had their hands full, but managed to set a 28th fastest time, which brought them to 25th in the standings.
Throughout Dakar 2021, Team Coronel managed to avoid any considerable problems, but on the final day, they were thrown some challenges. Nevertheless, they crossed the line and finished in the general standings in 26th place, their best result to date.
Over the last few years since Maxxis has supported racers in the Dakar rally, the Trepador tyres have proven themselves to be Dakar-proof. The mud-terrain version of this tyre is available in the UK and across Europe, and is the tyre of choice for Ultra4 European Championship winner Jim Marsden of Gigglepin Racing.
