Team PETRONAS De Rooy Iveco ready for Dakar defence

[kscarbel2]

Iveco Trucks Press Release  /  December 13, 2016

Champion racers Team PETRONAS De Rooy Iveco will field three trucks in the 2017 installment of the grueling Dakar rally: an Iveco “Powerstar” 4x4 and two Iveco “Trakker” 4x4 vehicles.

Gerard De Rooy will again take the wheel of the Powerstar with the two Trakkers being piloted by Ton van Genugten and Wuf van Ginkel.

Iveco’s sponsorship of Team PETRONAS De Rooy Iveco is now in its seventh consecutive year, with the manufacturer focused on providing the Team with the necessary vehicles, engines and spare parts, to defend the Dakar title and continue its outstanding race results of recent years.

All three trucks are equipped with Iveco Cursor 13 engines with up to 900 horsepower, specially engineered for the rally by FPT Industrial – the powertrain brand of CNH Industrial.

Seven additional vehicles – six Trakkers and one Daily – will complete the Team PETRONAS De Rooy Iveco line-up, providing support and assistance.

This year’s Dakar will again take place in South America starting on January 2 from Asunción, Paraguay, with racers traversing over 9,000 kilometres (5,592 miles) through Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina before crossing the finish line in Buenos Aires on January 14. 

Iveco Brand President, Pierre Lahutte, says the company has high hopes for success in its 2017 Dakar campaign.

"With this year’s team, we hope to replicate the great performance of last year in which Iveco dominated one of the most competitive Dakar ever…” he said

“As far as we are concerned, we are sure that we will continue to put the excellent reliability of our trucks on the trails of the Dakar rally, enabling the team's outstanding pilots to give their best performance in the race." 

Iveco Australia Marketing Manager, Darren Swenson, said the Dakar was a means for Iveco to demonstrate its reliability and off-road performance credentials on the world stage.

“The Dakar is the real deal, it’s arguably the most demanding off-road event anywhere in the world – the race captures people’s imaginations and can have good flow-on effects for the Iveco range in the consumer market,” Mr Swenson said.

“In Australia, the Iveco off-road range comprising Daily 4x4, Eurocargo 4x4, Trakker 4x4 and 6x6 and Astra 6x6 and 8x8 are already extremely well regarded, but performing well in Dakar further helps customer awareness and appreciation of these very capable vehicles.”

Follow all the news at:   http://www.iveco.com/dakar/Pages/HomePage.aspx

Iveco will keep its fans up to date throughout the rally on www.iveco.com/dakar, following the race step by step with daily updates from South America. The website narrates a journey through the world’s most difficult and demanding off-road race. The website, published in English and Spanish, will be updated every day with Team PETRONAS De Rooy Iveco’s results and performance data, plus multimedia content transmitted directly from the course itself.  Likewise, the Iveco’s global social media channels will be updated every day, with all the latest news as well as reports, videos and photos.  

.