Aleš Loprais

* 10.1.1980 in Olomouc, CZ

Ales Loprais is following the footsteps of his legendary uncle Karel, a six-time winner of the Dakar rally.

Ales had taken the seat in a race Tatra when he was six years old, shortly before the Dakar premiere of Karel Loprais. "I always wanted to go to Dakar with Karel. As I was growing older, I became increasingly convinced that this dream would come true one day. In the meantime, Karel became a legend and I was messing around fast cars as early as a secondary-school student," Ales says.

The important milestone to launch Ales‘ hopes for Dakar was the creation of the private Loprais Tatra Team, conducted by his father Milan. At that time, though, Ales was giving priority to variety of different hobbies: "I did downhill mountain biking, paragliding and all the stuff where adrenaline was involved," It was paragliding, at which Ales broke two vertebras, luckily enough with no consequences for life.

The growing interest in fast cars meant leas and less time for college studies of law. The family business gradually prevailed and so Ales did not become a lawyer but a businessman and a race driver. The family business specializes in distribution of spare parts for Tatra trucks as well as sales and servicing of Tatra vehicles. He has added a production of energy drinks on his to-do list.

After the premiere at Dakar 2006 as a navigator of Karel Loprais, Ales grabbed the steering wheel a year later and immediately took the bronze position: "We drove the edge and were lucky enough. It was my dream but real dreams and wishes cannot be pronounced loud because then they won’t fulfill. And my dream was reaching the podium. I never go too low in my dreams", Ales adds.

Ales is single and lives in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm, CZ.

Results

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Dakar Series - Silk Way '09	Hungarian Baja '08	Central Europe Rally '08	Rally Dakar '08	Rally Dakar '07	Rally Dakar '07