*March 4 1949, Ostrava, Czechoslovakia
Karel Loprais is well rspected as one of the greatest characters in the history of the Dakar. He is still the second-most successful medal holder in the history, right after the unreachable Stephane Peterhansel.
The real start of the racing career dates back to the entry of Tatra as a brand to the Dakar. At that time, he was a well experienced testing driver at Tatra and was able to utilize all experience he had gained operating Tatra trucks at extreme conditions. Already at his second participation in 1987, he scored the second place and won a year later. In 1988-2001, he won the Dakar as many as six times. And at the time of his sixth victory he was the most successful driver in the history of the Dakar.
Karel Loprais was also elected to be the Czech Racing Driver of the 20th century and several times he was awarded the Goden Wheel Award in his category.
Karel Loprais took also active part in Paris-Beijing and Desert Challenge rallies.
| 1st place: 6x | ||
| 1988 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Tomáš Mück | TATRA |
| 1994 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Josef Kalina | TATRA |
| 1995 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Tomáš Tomeček | TATRA |
| 1998 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Jan Čermák | TATRA |
| 1999 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Josef Kalina | TATRA |
| 2001 | Karel Loprais / Petr Hamerla / Josef Kalina | TATRA |
| 2nd place: 4x | ||
| 1987 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Jaroslav Krpec | TATRA |
| 1996 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Tomáš Tomeček | TATRA |
| 2000 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Petr Gilar | TATRA |
| 2002 | Karel Loprais / Petr Hamerla / Josef Kalina | TATRA |
| 3rd place: 1x (Paris – Cape Town) | ||
| 1992 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Josef Kalina | TATRA |
| 1992 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Josef Kalina (2nd place) | TATRA |
| 1999 | Karel Loprais / Radek Stachura / Petr Gilar (3rd place) |
TATRA |
| 2000 | Karel Loprais / Josef Kalina/ Petr Hamerla (2nd place) |
TATRA |
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