Milan Kořený, a Czech truck racer and contender at the Paris–Dakar Rally in the 1990s, passed away Wednesday. He was 73 years old.
Working for Tatra, Kořený made his Dakar debut in 1991 as the mechanic on Anne Kies’ truck that finished 68th overall. He and Vlastimil Buchtyár teamed up for Tatra starting in 1992, and they enjoyed a third-place finish at the 1995 edition behind teammate Karel Loprais.
In 1996, he took over driving duties of a Tatra 815 with Petr Gilar as navigator and Bedřich Sklenovský being mechanic. Kořený, with Jaroslav Lamač and Martin Kahánek scored his best finish as a driver in 1998 when he won a stage and placed third
Outside of Dakar, Kořený was also the mechanic on Tatras at rallies like the Paris–Cape Town Rally and Paris–Beijing Rally. He and Buchtyár worked alongside Ota Měřínský at the former in 1992, finishing eighth.
Tatra subsequently shuttered its rally division at the turn of the millennium. His final appearance was in 2000 on Bedřich Sklenovský’s truck that finished sixth.
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