Just as the New Year is being ushered in IVECO trucks will be setting off on two different continents to chase for glory on two of the toughest rallies in the world, the 40th edition of the Dakar Rally and the 10th edition of the Africa Eco Race.
Entered as Team Petronas De Rooy IVECO, Anton Van Genugten and Arthur Ardavichus will be drivers to participate in the Dakar 2018 edition while team leader Gerard De Rooy and Wuf Van Ginkel will compete in the Africa Eco Race 2018.
Two rally raids, two continents but one team competing for success on the most demanding routes in the world. This year, the De Rooy IVECO team will tackle extreme terrains, competing in two different competitions on board four IVECO Powerstar trucks.
For the eighth consecutive year, IVECO will be the official supplier of Team De Rooy and provide them with vehicles, engines and spare parts.
The Powerstar trucks are equipped with IVECO Cursor 13 engines with up to 1000 hp of power specially engineered for rally raid use by FPT Industrial – CNH Industrial’s powertrain brand.
DAKAR 2018
For its 40th edition – and the 10th in South America – the Dakar 2018 will set high standards from the start: competitors will kick off in Lima and immediately face the harsh Peruvian sandscapes.
The Dakar will then leave the desert to take on the mountains of the Bolivian Altiplano with a faster track, and the need to adjust to an altitude of 2,500 meters. In Argentina the rally raid will reach the most difficult part, with the Super Fiambalá stage.
Kazakh Artur Ardavichus will compete with co-pilot Serge Bruynkens and mechanic Michel Huisman on board the #508 Powerstar. The newest addtion to the Team De Rooy roster, he made his debut in the Silk Way Rally 2017, where he claimed fourth place.
Dutch pilot Ton Van Genugten, co-pilot Peter Willemsen and mechanic Bernard der Kinderen will also compete in the Dakar rally for the De Rooy IVECO Team in the #509 Powerstar.
AFRICA ECO RACE 2018
For its 10th edition, the Africa Eco Race will welcome a record number of competitors. More than a hundred vehicles, nearly 200 riders, drivers and co-drivers, will start from Monaco on December 31st.
Gerard De Rooy, at the wheel of his Powerstar, will be following on the footsteps of his father Jan, who won the rally’s first edition, and is the favourite of the 15 truck participants.
From December 31st – day of the official start and drive from Monaco to the ferry boarding in Sete – to January 14th, competitors will cross Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal before reaching the legendary Lac Rose, in Dakar, for a spectacular closing stage. The pilots will cover 6,500 km, of which more than half will be special stages along the tracks of Morocco and in the Sahara Desert in Mauritania, in an adventure that will test their endurance and navigation skills to the limit.
Gerard De Rooy, Team leader, will drive the #400 Powerstar with his experienced co-pilot Moi Torrallardona and the technical support of mechanic Darek Rodewald. Wuf Van Ginkel, with co-pilot Erik Kofman and mechanic Bert van Donkelaar will compete in the second Powerstar (#403).
