Karel Loprais

Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais
Nationality	Czech
Born	4 March 1949 Ostrava, Czechoslovakia
Died	30 December 2021 (aged 72) Nový Jičín, Czech Republic
Related to	Aleš Loprais (nephew)
Debut season	1986
Current team	Tatra

Karel Loprais (4 March 1949 – 30 December 2021) was a Czech rally raid driver and six-time winner of the Dakar Rally in the truck category.

Career

He started working in Tatra, Kopřivnice, Czechoslovakia, as a factory worker in 1967, later becoming a test driver. He competed with a Tatra 815 truck in the Dakar Rally for the first time in 1986, being disqualified from the 2nd place for arriving late to the last stage start. He competed 19 times between 1986-2006 and claimed six titles (1988, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001), four second places (1987, 1996, 2000, 2002), one third place (1992), two fourth places (1990, 1991) and one seventh place (2004).

After his second victory in 1994, when he placed at the 6th place in the common auto-camion category some media started to call him Monsieur Dakar.

After the Dakar Rally he took part in the Paris-Moscow-Beijing rally in 1993 (3rd place), the Master Rallye in 1995 (4th place) and the UAE Desert Challenge in 1999 (3rd place) and 2000 (2nd place).

Personal life and death

Loprais was the uncle of Aleš Loprais who is also a rally raid truck driver. Loprais died from COVID-19 at a hospital in Nový Jičín on 30 December 2021, aged 72.

Dakar Rally results

Year	Class	Vehicle	Position	Stages won
1986	Trucks	Tatra	DNF	?
1987			2nd	?
1988			1st	?
1989	Trucks category not held.
1990	Trucks	Tatra	4th	?
1991			4th	?
1992			3rd	?
1993
1994	Trucks	Tatra	1st	?
1995			1st	?
1996			2nd	?
1997			DNF	2
1998			1st	2
1999			1st	1
2000			2nd	3
2001			1st	8
2002			2nd	1
2003			DNF	1
2004			7th	2
2005			DNF	0
2006			DNF	0