530 Teams out of the 550 entries have been admitted to the tough endurance rally, which starts on Saturday, made up of 228 motor bikes, 30 quads, 186 cars and 82 trucks. And in the truck category comes a real contender for victory in the form of the Iveco Cursor 13-powered Ginaf trucks of perennial Dakar contenders, Team De Rooy. Two trucks have been entered by the experienced Dutch team in the bid for victory: the first lead vehicle will be piloted by Gerard de Rooy, Tom Colsoul and Marcel van Melis, while the second assistance Ginaf-Iveco will be in the hands of Hugo Duisters, Yvo Geusens and Michel Huisman.

After the 2008 edition of the Dakar Rally was cancelled at the final moment due to the threat of terrorism on North Africa, the decision was made to switch the event to South America for 2009, and a brand new adventure got underway. This got going in earnest on 26th and 27th November when technical scrutineering took place before the competing vehicles boarded cargo ships in Le Havre. Yesterday and today (31st December 2008/1st January 2009 saw administrative scrutineering and briefing taking place in Buenos Aires. The rally will start on Saturday (3rd January) in the Argentinean capital city on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and will go south through Patagonia to Puerto Madryn and further via Jacobacci through the Andes mountains to Valparaiso at the Pacific Ocean. Via the Atacama desert the route will take the competitors back to Buenos Aires. At first the competitors will have to deal with long fast tracks. Gradually the ground will become less hard. Especially in Chile the teams will meet high dunes, chains of mountains and a lot of desert.

Leading the team is Gerard De Rooy, director of de Rooy transport. He will be starting his 6th rally. Actually he's no rookie anymore. He knew 12 times a stage victory and in 2002 he took the 3rd place in the overall ranking together with his father. "The last time I performed well was in 2005. I finished 5th just behind my father, but he's not with me this time. I still have to get used to it, going without my father although I did the Transoriëntal also on my own. I have made the choice to go really for the competition. The big names from Kamaz and MAN all go to South America so I wanted to be with them, together with my crew Tom Colsoul and Marcel van Melis. I'm attracted to the unknown. Unknown to me and to my rivals. We all start from zero." De Rooy especially looks forward to the new experiences like incredible differences in height and an extreme range of temperatures. "My ambitions are very high. The last three years I hardly derived pleasure from my hobby, I would like to change this. Not only by competing but by going for the stand. At the end Hans Stacey has proved that it is possible to break through the supremacy from Kamaz. Despite all the techniques it stays man's handi-work. Concentration and stamina are as important as a good truck. I have to take care of this myself; furthermore I have an excellent navigator and a perfect technical team to support me. So there are no excuses in the battle for the stand".

Tom Colsoul will be the navigator in the truck with de Rooy, and the 32 year old is starting his 5th Dakar Rally. "I look to South America with mixed feelings. I already participated in the WRC rally from Argentina with a rally car. There's not much sand between Buenos Aires and the North. It's a country for cars, not for trucks. So we depend on Chile. Besides, we don't know how we and our trucks will react on the heights, but that will be a problem for all competitors", states Colsoul with certainty. He spent the time between the cancelled rally last year and now with preparing rally cars and the start of his own car-wash. "Especially in the beginning this cost a lot of time but now everything runs smoothly". Colsoul expects a tough battle between the big shots: the teams come closer every year so I'm telling you it will be an exciting rally". His condition is ok, Tom knows better than anybody else that a navigator has to start the day fit. The smallest mistake can lead to loss of time. "I'll be honest on this rally. I'm in love with Africa and I think Africa is a country for trucks and South America a country for cars. I hope I'm wrong but it wouldn't surprise me if I'm not." He does look forward to the ambience around the Dakar. "It will be a madhouse. People in Argentina are crazy about rallies. It will be crowded along the route", knows the experienced son of the also famous father, Guy Colsoul.

"I didn't know what was happening to me when I was told that I would be part of Gerard's crew, says the third member of the lead truck, Marcel van Melis. "It's not that I didn't like the service truck but now I will be in the race!" beams the 27 years old habitant of Gemert. Marcel starts with his 3rd rally. After the Dakar Rally in Africa and the Transoriental Rally in Kazakhstan and China it's now time for South America which makes the ex HTS-student a real globe-trotter. "I work on the vehicles the whole year. And now in the cabin with Gerard and Tom, that's a challenge. I don't know what to expect but that goes for all of us in the truck league". Marcel is proud as a peacock that he will join the biggest and toughest rally spectacle in the world. "Last year I was really sick and tires when we returned from Lisbon. It won't happen this year. If we keep things whole we'll compete for the stand, that's something I know for sure.".

"I liked the Transoriental very much so why not this rally" says Hugo Duisters, who will be in the driving seat of the second Ginaf-Iveco truck, which will provide assistance to Gerard de Rooy. "Despite our drop out we didn't have many defects, the trucks were ok. We all start from zero over there. None of our rivals has experience in South America. I heard that we will ride at high altitudes so we have to see if we can manage that. For the engines it means that the performance decreases. We have to protect the engine on time against over speeding of the turbo", states Duisters very sensible. This excellent mechanic also sees advantages in the fact that the team has been halved because Jan de Rooy is doing the Africa Race. "I now only have to follow Gerard, so the chance that we have to stop to assist has been reduced by 50%. If it goes like it did in the Transoriental, I will have little to do", chuckles the man who starts his 9th rally. "The first days will be most difficult. Of course I want to ride as close to Gerard as possible but undoubtedly I will have a lower number so I will start about 20 minutes later and have to see how I can overtake the other competitors. Anyhow, I can't wait to start with this rally. I ride with Yvo since the eighties already, we can do anything. And Michel Huisman, our man from Iveco, in the meantime also knows the ropes. I heard that there won't be many liaison kilometres and a lot of kilometres in the Specials, so much the better. We will go for it!"

Being 53 years old and having 11 rallies behind his name, Yvo Geusens is an old-stager in the Team de Rooy. He will navigate the second, assistance, truck. Not many people know that he was familiar with South America and Africa already before he started working for Jan de Rooy as operational manager. "I worked for 6 months in Colombia in Medelin; at that time it wasn't as dangerous as it is now. After that I also stayed in Africa for 6 months. Next to the fact that I speak French I once learned Spanish. I'm curious whether this comes back. It really would be opportune," states the man who lives in the Belgian town called Lommel. Despite his experiences in the DAKAR rally, Yvo Regards this rally as a new adventure. "Even the organisation alerts the competitors to the fact that they may not underrate this rally. Everything is new. Besides, the competition in the truck league has become more and more sharp the last few years and sometimes even risks are being taken. We won't do that and now that the road book has become more important than the GPS-system, there won't be competitors anymore who create dangerous situations by using the GPS-system in order to take short cuts and drive straight from A to B," says the navigator of the fast assistance truck. "It's just too awful to think what might happen with all those spectators along the route. Rally riding is very popular in South America and the population is quite hot-tempered. I hope nothing happens at places where the enthusiastic population can come close to the competitors", concludes a worried Geusens.

Michel Huisman completes the crew of the assistance truck. He works with Iveco-dealer Schouten in Almkerk, but since a good while he's more often in Son. He's the first Iveco mechanic that met the Team de Rooy. Within Schouten he works on the development and construction of special multi axled vehicles. So his coming from Almkerk to Son is pretty obvious and his knowledge of the Iveco engine is very opportune. Last year was supposed to be his first appearance in the Dakar Rally, but this debut was taken away of him due to the cancellation. Luckily he could join the Transoriental rally. "A great experience; Kazakhstan and China and now I'm going to South America! I didn't expect this when I went to Son for the first time", tells the 37 years old mechanic who was born in South-Holland. "Proving my own stamina was great. The relationship with Hugo and Yvo is very good. I never thought that such a rally is such a team sport. When you're through, the others keep you going. Very special". He spent many hours in Son during the last few months. "But that goes also for the others. But fair's fair, I've had it now with those four walls, if it's up to me the rally may start tomorrow."

Engine: Type: Iveco Cursor 13; displacement 12,9 litres; some engine features: 6 cylinder line engine, electronic Bosch unit injectors, Holset Turbo; Maximum power: 820 hp @ 2200 rpm (600 kW @ 2200 rpm); Maximum torque: 3200 Nm @ 1200 rpm

Transmission: Clutch: Single plate, diameter = 430 mm. Gear box: ZF 8S151 OD (red.: 11,54 – 0,84 : 1) With servo shift. Transfer case: ZF Steyr VG 1600/300 (red.: 0.89 : 1); version without differential

Chassis: Ladder-type frame with high-tension steel (KF600) side rail and torque resistant cross members. 260 x 75 x 6 mm (no inner reinforcement)

Front and rear axle suspension: Leaf springs with 4 shock absorbers per axle mounted with coil springs

Brakes: Disc brakes. Dimensions: diam. 430 x 42. Brake system pressure: 8 bar

Cabin type: GINAF X series, day cab. Equipped with 3 seats, 4-point safety belts and a rollover protection bar

Cab suspension: Front: Mounted in silent blocs. Rear: Suspended with coil springs and hydraulic shock absorbers