“Everything went super until we passed WP2. At that point we had a flat tyre, but after that we passed all trucks again and even some fast cars,” said Gerard De Rooy. “Ain’t it great when you finish with a second flat tyre,” added his navigator Tom Colsoul.

However that was the only good news for the Iveco camp yesterday as Hans Stacey lost almost half an hour, finishing the stage with only the eighth fastest time. “It went great during the first part but after WP6 we had problems. First we had a flat tyre and than I bungled with the new tyre deflation system. We drove with too high pressure, so I got stuck in the dunes about 5 or 6 times. You have to start all over again and that takes about 20 seconds every time. On top of everything I drove the last part behind a KAMAZ and he took, on purpose or not, the wrong route. That took me again 10 minutes.”

WP2

It was a very familiar picture during the first part of the trial; with all five Ivecos running in the top-10. #505 Stacey led the charge, followed by #502 De Rooy and the #511 Miki Biasion. At WP3 Gerard and Miki both suffered flat tyres at almost the same place. However the team can change the truck's tyre in less than 7 minutes, including connecting the air system. At the end of the sector Gerard was timed through in twelfth place at 7.41 minutes back and Miki, who required a bit more time to change the tyre, took sixteenth place in 10.18 minutes.

WP4

Hans was still in the lead. He passed through at 1.26.10 hours. Ardavichus arrived 3.32 minutes later while Loprais was third at 3.44 minutes back. #518 Jo Adua, being the fastest of the Iveco service trucks came through in sixth place followed by Wuf van Ginkel (#506 Ginaf) and then Iveco team mate #515 Pep Vila who passed through at 5.30 minutes, the eighth driver across the line. In the meantime Gerard had climbed up one place and was eleventh quickest with his deficit now standing at 8.05 minutes.

WP7

It was still Hans “Racey” Stacey who was doing a splendid job at this point through WP5 and WP6 with Gerard climbing up one more place to come through in tenth, at 8.04 minutes. At WP7 the rankings all changed. Hans fell back with a flat tyre, but it was costly, in the end they passed WP7 in twelfth and were 12.40 minutes behind Karginov (#509 Kamaz) who clocked through quickest in 2.29.21 hours. Gerard’s race to catch up the leading pack was going well, he took fifth place being, now just 3.30 minutes behind. Jo followed in seventh, Pep was ninth and Miki in tenth at 7.28 minutes.

WP8

Again Gerard managed make up another place, now he was fourth and 3.21 minutes behind Karginov. Miki was also recovering very strongly and passed through in seventh. Hans climbed one place from twelfth to eleventh but was struggling with the dunes and losing time overall. However the big news was the first retirement from Team De Rooy on the 2012 Dakar Rally as Miki stopped in the #511 Iveco Trakker between WP7 and WP8. The former two times world rally champion's departure came just a day after he had celebrated his 54th birthday.

WP9

The race to recover lost ground was completed at WP9 as Gerard took the stage lead once again and clocked through the time control in 3.32.58 hours. Loprais however followed closely behind, and was only 3 seconds adrift at this point, followed by the Kamaz drivers Karginov and Ardavichus. Wuf van Ginkel took a strong fifth place; he was 7.30 minutes behind Gerard. In the meantime Hans had climbed up the order to the eighth place but was 17.14 minutes behind. Pep took the ninth place while Jo was two slots further back.

Finish

At the finishline it was three wins in a row for Gerard in the #502 Iveco Powerstar. A very strong performance and a fighting drive to recover from the puncture meant his time of 4.20.32 hours would been good enough for sixteenth place in the car category (the previous stage in fact he had set a time at the finish flag that would have put him tenth amongst the cars).

De Rooy was 3.59 minutes ahead of Loprais at the end of the SS7 and this duo were followed after a decent time gap by the the Russia drivers Karginov and Ardavichus, respectively being 16.32 and 17.37 minutes adrift. Wuf van Ginkel was snapping at the Kamaz drivers' heels; he was fifth home at 17.54 minutes. Hans eventually came across the finishline 28.53 minutes behind De Rooy and was the eight quickest driver; he was closely followed by the two fast service team Ivecos, Pep being ninth and Jo tenth.

General rankings

Gerard continues to lead the Dakar Rally with a time of 18.05.15 hours. After the misfortunes for the other Team De Rooy trucks, Loprais (#501 Tatra) now moves into second place overall, 17.10 minutes behind Gerard. Hans is third, but the gap is up to 33.14 minutes, he must now start to harry Lopais from SS8. The two Team De Rooy Iveco fast service trucks of Pep (+1:43.16) and Jo (+2:05.23) are running in an impressive seventh and ninth places respectively overall. Yesterday's action concluded the first week's programme of the Dakar Rally and today is a rest day with the start of the final leg kicking off with SS8 taking place tomorrow.