Aleš Loprais (born 10 January 1980 in

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

rally raid Rally raid is a type of off-road motorsport event competed with different types of vehicles. Along with shorter Baja (cross-country rally), baja rallies, rally raid constitutes cross-country rallying. Both the Fédération Internationale de l'Aut ...

truck driver. Loprais has a long association with Tatra and has been a frequent participant of the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally () or simply "The Dakar" (), formerly known as the Paris–Dakar Rally (), is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). It is an off-road endurance event traversing terrain much tougher than convent ...

,Dakar.com: The Stars Will Decide
/ref> having also won the 2011 Silk Way Rally in the truck category.

Career

Loprais is nephew of the highly successful Czech rally raid truck driver

Karel Loprais Karel Loprais (4 March 1949 – 30 December 2021) was a Czech rally raid driver and six-time winner of the Dakar Rally in the truck category. Career He started working in Tatra, Kopřivnice, Czechoslovakia, as a factory worker in 1967, late ...

. The younger Loprais first competed on the Dakar Rally in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

as navigator to his uncle Karel, and from

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

he has competed as a driver for Tatra. Loprais has scored several stage victories in the Dakar Rally, his best overall result being third place in 2007. Apart from the Dakar Rally, Loprais competed in a number of other rally raid races, including the Silk Way Rally and the 2008 Central Europe Rally. In 2023, he was placed under police investigation after accidentally killing a spectator while competing in the Dakar Rally.

Dakar Rally results

* Co-driver for

* The 2008 Central Europe Rally was recognised as the 2008 edition of the Dakar because of ASO administrative decisions to move the race to central Europe.

Silk Way Rally results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loprais, Ales 1980 births Sportspeople from Olomouc Czech rally drivers Off-road racing drivers Living people Dakar Rally drivers Rally raid truck drivers