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The Dutch De Rooy team are ready for the
tough challenge of the 30th Lisboa-Dakar
Rally with their three Ginaf trucks now
powered for the 6,000 km desert adventure by
Iveco Cursor engines. |
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The Dutch De
Rooy team are ready for the tough challenge of the 30th
Lisboa-Dakar Rally with their three Ginaf trucks now
powered for the 6,000 km desert adventure for the first
time by Iveco Cursor engines.
The crew of the
rally trucks of the Team de Rooy have undergone a few changes
for the event which gets underway on 5th January, the
biggest difference being the replacement of the DAF
engines with Iveco units. Jan de Rooy will
have the familiar face of Danny Colebunders beside him,
while Gerard de Rooy rides with as well his friend Tom
Colsoul and Arno Slaats. Hugo Duisters will drive the fast
assistance truck in the rally and will be assured of the
assistance of his regular partner and navigator Yvo Geusens.
The trio of
powerful Ginaf X2223 trucks weigh in at 8,500 kg and are
6.4 metres long. Iveco Schouten, an Iveco dealer with
several branches in the Netherlands, arranged the engine
contract. The Iveco Cursor 13 engine is 12.9
litres and features 6-cylinders, 14-valves, a Holset
turbo and Bosch fuel injection system. Maximum power is
820 bhp (600 kW) at 2,200 rpm, while peak torque comes
in at 3,200 Nm at 1,500 rpm.
"Proud of its place in the history of motorsports and beyond, the Dakar is mainly
an event of its time, with men and women of their time, concerned by the problems
of their time," claimed Etienne Lavigne, director of the rally on the occasion
of the official presentation of the course of the 30th edition of the Dakar. The
first competitors of this one-in-a-kind event, who took off from the place du
Trocadéro in December of 1978, were the pioneers of several generations of
ordinary adventurers. In 2008, close to 580 vehicles in the race representing 50
nationalities will take off from Lisbon on the 5th of January heading towards
Senegal’s capital where the finish line will be crossed on Sunday the 20th of
January. The success of the Dakar can also be measured through the huge
international recognition.
Faithful to its values, the 2008 Dakar 2008 offers to its entrants a long
journey in the Saharan desert that has made the legend of the rally. After
leaving Europe where two specials will be competed on Portuguese soil, the race
will spend four days in Morocco. Eight stages are then planned in Mauritania
before reaching Senegal: “An ocean of sand” insists Etienne Lavigne. The concept
of the course which honours several ‘’historical’’ stage cities like Guelmine in
Morocco, Nouadhibou in Mauritania or Saint-Louis in Senegal, was guided by one
objective: density. A total of 9273 km will have to be covered with 5736 of
specials, that’s 1500 km more than in 2007 and close to 1000 km more than during
the 2006 edition.
While the announcement of the stages promises a good deal of sand, the variety
of the program should allow different types of competitors to use their
strengths in the race for the title. In the car event, Mitsubishi’s domination,
winners of the last seven editions, will once again be disputed by the ambitious
Volkswagen team that has been adding extra pressure on the “reds” since they
arrived on the event. The vehicles registered by Schlesser, as well as those of
the BMW X-Raid team will try to go from an umpiring status to that of an
outsider. On two wheels, the battle between the KTM riders in the Repsol or
RedBull colours could be worried by the 450cc bikers who already impressed last
year claiming several stage wins. Finally, the truck race should see another
fierce fight between Kamaz and Ginaf, for whom pride was seriously shaken by the
victory of an Exact-Man truck in 2007.
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