The Energylandia team is caught with a carbon clutch – Eryk Goczal led the T3 class with an hour to spare – Michal Goczal also disqualified
The first week of the 2024 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia was dominated by one driver in the T3 Challenger class. Eryk Goczal and his co-driver Oriol Mena won five stages. They even finished stage 6 in fifth place in the automobile class. At the halfway point of the rally, the Polish-Spanish duo led the class classification by over an hour.
But on the evening of the rest day, the FIA issued a disqualification. The clutch of the Taurus T3 Max did not comply with the regulations. The Energylandia team had used carbon components for the clutch. This material is prohibited.
As a result, Eryk Goczal, who at the age of 19 is regarded as a great talent of the future in the bivouac, was excluded from the classification. His team-mate and uncle Michal Goczal and co-driver Szymon Gospodarczyk were also disqualified for the same reason.
Michal Goczal was in sixth place in the T3 Challenger classification after the sixth stage. Interestingly, there were no sanctions against Marek Goczal, Michal’s father. He also rides for the Energylandia team.
Marek Goczal was on the start list for stage 7, although he is already 53 hours behind in the Challenger classification and no longer plays a role in the sporting outcome of the T3 class. Marek is Eryk Goczal’s uncle.
The Energylandia team did not agree with the disqualification of the two cars with start numbers 302 and 310. They argued in the FIA hearing with a different interpretation of the regulations.
In a statement, the team said: “The regulations have been fully studied by the team and all team members and there are no errors or omissions on the part of the team.” The team also states that it has obtained permission for the modifications.
“The Energylandia team has assurances from technical people associated with the organizers that a carbon clutch (elements of the clutch) is allowed, especially as it has no advantage or impact on the performance of the vehicle.”
“We emphasize that this design had no impact on the performance of the vehicle.” The team relies on Article 286-8.1.1. of the Technical Regulations. This states that there are no special restrictions on the clutch mechanism and the disks.
However, the FIA stewards state in their reasoning that this article does not mention any exceptions to the materials. The permitted materials are set out in Article 286-2.3. Carbon is prohibited.
The Energylandia team has nevertheless announced that it will appeal against the disqualification. However, an appeal hearing will most likely not take place until after the end of the rally. Eryk and Michal Goczal were not allowed to tackle stage 7
