With time to himself away from his duties as President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel decided to revisit the experience he got in January. Zámek Lány (Lány Castle), where the president stays in the summer, hosted an event on Thursday for Czech teams that raced the 2025 Dakar Rally.

In January, Pavel went to Saudi Arabia to watch the rally and support his compatriots who took part. Officially, it was a private activity of the president without diplomatic importance (save for a pre-race lunch with the Saudi royal family), and he only had security guards as his entourage. Besides connecting with those taking part, he slept in a tent in the bivouacs like everyone else and followed the race from a media car. He even dabbled as a race photographer, and some of his pictures were exhibited in March at the National Technical Museum in Prague.

Vehicles were put on display around the manor, while team personnel and competitors mingled with the president and other attendees. Pavel also shared beers with those like rider Martin Michek along with Ultimate driver Martin Prokop and his navigator Viktor Chytka.

ORLEN Jipocar Team brought Prokop’s Ford Raptor, which finished tenth overall at Dakar, and his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 that he races in WRC to Lány. Karel Trněný’s Ford F-150 EVO, 27th in Ultimate, was also on display.

Michek, who competes in RallyGP but retired from Dakar, presented Pavel with his autobiography and a framed page from his Dakar roadbook.

Jan Brabec and his son were in attendance, the former finishing 20th in Rally2 in his final Dakar. The all-Czech Cajdašrot Dakar Team had Dušan Drdaj’s eighth-place KTM 450 Rally Replica on display next to their merchandise van, while Drdaj and teammate Jaromír Romančík (14th in Rally2, third in Malle Moto) were both in attendance.

From the Truck side were Dakar winner Martin Macík Jr.‘s “Benny the Big Guy” IVECO PowerStar EVO 4 and Tomáš Vrátný’s Tatra FF7 that placed ninth. Pavel had christened the latter when it was revealed at Colours of Ostrava last July. At Fesh Fesh’s booth, he and his wife Eva Pavlová received portraits of themselves from artist Honza Šádek; the First Lady also got to sit inside the FF7 and learn how the truck operates from Vrátný.

The Dakar Classic was represented in Lány too. The “Duckar” Citroën 2CV Sahara that Barbora Holická drove to a 66th overall and fourth in class made an appearance along with “Duckar+1”, a Citroën H Van used by the team as a support vehicle.

Featured image credit: Cajdašrot Dakar Team