Gerard De Rooy (middle) will begin his bid to win the Dakar Rally in his Iveco engined truck (top and bottom, in Buenos Aires this week) tomorrow; only 28 years old he has quite a track record, finishing three of his five participations to the Dakar: 6th in 2002, 3rd in 2004 and 5th in 2005. Photos: Team de Rooy.

Gerard De Rooy is only 28 years old but he has quite a track record. The Dutchmen finished three of his five participations to the Dakar: he ranked sixth in 2002, third in 2004 and fifth in 2005. This year, behind the wheels of his Iveco powered Ginaf X22.23, he hopes to finally have this little bit of success that makes the whole difference.

How did you spend your last days before the start?

"I’ve been very busy with my trucking business till the end of December so I didn’t really have time to train over the last few weeks. It’s not really a problem because in the truck category, it is not necessary to have the same physical condition as in the car and bike categories. So now we’re all staying with our families. Anyway, we’ve already worked hard all year, on the truck notably."

Talking about the truck, what are the last changes you brought to your Ginaf?

"After the Transorientale, we did a full check-up of the truck and verified everything up to the last bolt. The truck was entirely rebuilt and all its damaged parts have been replaced. The truck is now ready and it’s really competitive. For a month now I’ve been saying to myself: “if the Dakar starts tomorrow, I’m ready to go.” It will be a nice fight e.g. with the Kamaz and the Tatra. I can’t wait to be in it."

You came extremely close to winning several times. Will this year be the year?

"Just like always, we will try to get to the top. This year like every other year we can win. But the winner of the Dakar rally raid is always the one that has a little more luck than the others, or rather the one that has the least bad luck. Over the last years, I often had bad luck on my side. I hope the bad luck will go to the others this time around!"

9,500 km 100 % Dakar including 5,650 km of special. Dunes, fresh sand, limitless roads, mountains… all the ingredients will be there to remind competitors that the arrival in Buenos Aires on January 17 will be hard-won. The plains of Patagonia, the Atacama Desert and the passageway through the Andes Mountains – all in the heat of the austral summer – will provide an ideal setting for testing the endurance of pilots committed to the Dakar 2009.

Tomorrow morning (January 3rd), 530 teams will take off from Buenos Aires for the start of the Dakar 2009: 230 motorbikes, 30 quads, 188 cars and 82 trucks, representing 49 nationalities. The figures for this South American Dakar are amazing. In addition, the elite of worldwide rally-raiding will meet to fight it out over these new territories. Mitsubishi’s title will be up for grabs against their major rivals at Volkswagen, BMW and Team Gordon. In the T2 class Toyota and Nissan will be looking for a highly coveted victory. On the two-wheeler side, KTM will turn out in force to maintain its domination of the discipline. All the best truck teams will be there, too: Kamaz, Tatra, Hino, Mercedes, Ginaf, and the title-holder Man will vie for first place.