After finishing third in class at this year’s Dakar Rally, Aleš Loprais plans to enter the 2026 edition with a new, beefed-up truck. Speaking at FRENDdly fest in Moravskoslezský, he explained the truck is brand new and has “secretly testing” in the Tatra Mountains and Slovakia.

He intends to debut it at the Rallye du Maroc in October before bringing it to Saudi Arabia for Dakar.

“It’s new truck, newly built, slightly modified, based on the knowledge gained from the last Dakar,” Loprais commented. “I believe it will be a step faster.”

Loprais signed with Team de Rooy for the 2025 Dakar, switching over from Praga. Driving an IVECO PowerStar, he finished third with five stage wins. However, his chances at the overall were hampered by him running out of spare tires in Stage 3 and all but one of his leaf springs breaking two legs later.

“It was nice, it could have been worse but also could’ve been better,” Loprais noted.

Adjacent to the Dakar Rally, his Loprais Team also fielded a pair of Tatra trucks in the Dakar Classic. Igor Pazdera won the H2T class in a Tatra 815 Puma while Jiří Husek was second in an 815 HAS. The team plans to bring a third truck to the 2026 Classic.

2026 will be Loprais’ 20th Dakar Rally.

Featured image credit: Charly Lopez / ASO