Iveco dunks second place in Dakar

Iveco secured a strong second place in Dakar 2014, with Gerard De Rooy once again behind the wheel of an Iveco Powerstar. The battle for the top step of the podium came down to the wire for the Dutch driver, who fought until the last second of the race. He was beaten by the narrowest of margins by Audrey Karginov in a Kamaz.

Immediately after finishing the last stage of Dakar 2014, De Rooy said: “It was a tough test. It wasn’t a good idea to have the trucks and cars start together. That was also the case last year and we told Amaury Sport Organisation. Eventually I did everything that was in my power. I had hoped that would be enough. We can at least be very satisfied with the team, our Iveco trucks and our performance.”

The other members of Team Petronas De Rooy Iveco also finished well: Hans Stacey from the Netherlands, driving an Iveco Trakker Evolution 3, took seventh place in the standings. Pep Vila from Spain and Jo Adua from France took 10th and 22nd place respectively, both behind the wheel of an Iveco Trakker Evolution 2.

All the Iveco vehicles that started on January 5, from Rosario in Argentina, crossed the finish line at Valparaíso in Chile, on January 18. And, although the trucks were specially adapted to suit the extreme terrain and climate of the Dakar, the vehicles were based on factory-produced models that were optimised for high, energy-efficient, performance.

Over the past three years Iveco certainly has had a respectable run in the Dakar as it ranked first, second and sixth in the overall classification during 2012, had a strong placing for three drivers in 2013 (despite a lot of bad luck during the most important stages) and now a second place in 2014 – achieved after approximately 10 000 km of hard-fought rallying.

This year’s event was the longest Dakar since the competition arrived in South America. The route covered more than 9 000 km in total, 5 000 of which were special trials. There were a total of 13 stages to reach the Chilean port of Valparaíso, having crossed the highest mountain of the Andes in Bolivia.