Day four of the Lisboa-Dakar proved to be a difficult day for the Motorsport Italia Iveco team in the truck category as Miki Biasion, who had started the day running in a superb second place overall, hit serious delays, and plummeted down the leaderboard.

On the rally's second day in the Morocco deserts, Biasion's team-mate in the 13-litre Iveco Trakker, Pep Vila finished in 11th place while Markku Alén was just behind in 12th. "It has been a difficult stage, said Alén afterwards. "But it is important we came out of it without too many damages and in a good position."

At the front of the truck race, Russian Dakar specialist Vladimir Tchaguine, continued his winning ways by claiming his fourth consecutive stage victory as the teams arrived in Ouarzazate late yesterday afternoon, 2 minutes 42 seconds ahead of Hans Stacey. So far on the 2006 Lisboa-Dakar, he has been quite simply unbeatable and his nearest overall rival is now Karel Loprais, who is 1 hour and 8 minutes behind after just two Moroccan stages. In the overall rankings, Vila is now in 6th place with a gap to the leader of 1 hour 49 minutes 30 seconds, while Alén is 7th, 1 hour 54 minutes 29 seconds behind. This afternoon the Dakar Rally will arrive in Tan Tan, after a special stage of 350 km.

Monday (Day 3) was a very different story for the Motorsport Italia Iveco team as the 2006 Dakar Rally arrived in Africa and Miki Biasion, in the fastest of the three Trakker AT190T44Ws, continued to play a major role on the race. The third stage, the 314km run from Nador to Er Rachidia in Morocco, saw the former twice World Rally Champion finishing in second place behind behind stage winner Tchaguine (Kamaz), with a 7 minute 6 second gap. This allowed Biasion to move up to second place overall, overtaking the Brazilian pilot Andre De Azevedo, and to sit comfortably just 13 minutes 56 seconds behind Tchaguine. "It has been a very nice stage," said Biasion afterwards, "I lifted a little bit the gas only in the final part, when we had to overtake too many cars and there was a lot of dust on the track. I did not want to take any risk.

"I'm very happy about the result today," added the Italian, "because we couldn't test the truck before the start of the Dakar. The truck needed a three-month preparation, but we saw that everything was fine with it. We just had a problem with the brakes which I used a lot during the stage and now we have to change the disc brakes." The two other large trucks from the Motorsport Italia team also performed particularly well on the first Moroccan stage, with Finnish driver Alén clinching the 7th position, 26 minutes and 48 seconds behind Tchaguine, while the experienced Spaniard, Pep Vila, was 8th overall, 28 minutes and 21 seconds behind.
 

"I have been driving very carefully so far," said Vila afterwards. "And up to now everything works perfectly. While Miki and Markku are fighting for the podium, my duty so far is to help them and then make it to Dakar".

Today (Day 5), sees the the field taking part in a third and final day in Morocco, the competitors setting out this morning to cover 1250kms, a rally record, before they enter Mauritania later this afternoon. The dune specialists, who had a first taste of the sand during yesterday's stage, will now have to wait until they reach Mauritania to enjoy more sand. Today's program is a lot trickier, more sinuous and technical. Between the holes and the stones, the bikers, drivers and co-drivers will need that extra something and also much luck if they are to avoid punctures.

THE MOTORSPORT ITALIA IVECO TRUCKS

All seven Iveco vehicles are standard models fitted with additional equipment, most particularly in the safety field, which is indispensable to face the desert and the stiff competition. The three Trakker AT190T44W 4x4s are powered by six-cylinder 12,880cc Cursor 13 turbodiesel engines combined with a 16-speed ZF manual gearbox. They have a wheelbase of 4,200 mm and the alterations include: special dampers and a cab equipped with a roll-over bar and Sparco wraparound racing seats. The box body has been lightened considerably, giving the vehicle an overall weight of little more than nine tonnes.

The two Eurocargo ML140E24WS 4x4 are powered by the six-cylinder 5,880cc Tector turbodiesel engine, and a manual ZF gearbox. They have a wheelbase of 3,900 mm and these vehicles also feature specific dampers for the event, a roll-over bar and Sparco racing seats in the cabs. The total weight of the outfitted vehicle is less than eight tonnes.

The back-up vehicles are Trakker AT380T44W 6x6s, therefore with three axles; the engine is the same six-cylinder 12,880cc Cursor 13, but the most striking feature is the box body which has been fitted out as a fully equipped workshop. The service team's line-up is completed by the glorious Eurocargo ML135E24WS 4x4 which brought Miki Biasion so much success in recent years, but is now refurbished and fitted with a new cab.