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Welcome to the Dakar Rally 2012 special newssection. To read an article just click on the specific headline below. All articles are visible for several years and under special subdomain [ COPY & CLICK HERE ] or use the SEARCH. |
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 | SA-Dakar Rally: Triple win for Iveco in trucks - now triple overall Iveco lead.
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Triple stagewin for the Dutch "Team De Rooy Petronas": Gerard De Rooy made the 4th stage in 04:22:12 hours, 1:13 minutes in front of Hans Stacey and 1:43 mins ahead of Miki Biasion (Italy). The three "greens" were followed by Marcel van Vliet in the best MAN Racetruck (+6:22) and the best Kamaz of the Russian Eduard Nikolaev (+8:16).
In the overall ranking De Rooy is leading again in front of his teammates Stacey and Biasion. Also the service equip of the Team de Rooy is doing a great job. Pep takes the 10th place today and also Jo did a very good stage by finishing 15th.
"The general rankings show a green Top-3, with three Iveco Rally trucks being almost 10 minutes ahead of Loprais and Ardavichus" the Team said. "The service trucks of the Team de Rooy take the 12th and 13th place not even an hour from Gerard de Rooy. It promises to be a breathtaking competition thursday as we can expect some firework from the Eastern European competitors when we reach the dunes."
Gerard de Rooy reported: "It was a tough day for all trucks; we also had some loose parts due to the high speeds for hours on the hard, bad roadbed. I guess it will be a night of repairs for my mechanics but that’s all part of such a hard competition." He continues: "today’s stage gave a good feeling, we drove very steady and we didn’t experience real problems. However, I’m glad we’ll have some real dunes tomorrow." Navigator Tom goes along with Gerard: "The most important thing is that we keep quite; we only left one third of the trial behind us."
Hans Stacey said: "It was super, no unexpected things, the truck is much more stable compared to the first special. My navigator Hans van Goor and I are making a good team: let’s go for tomorrow", says the Dutch when he arrives at the bivouac.
Everything ran smoothly for Team de Rooy from the beginning onwards. Already at WP1, after 50 kilometres, the 3 Iveco’s clocked the fastest times. Gerard leaded, followed by Miki and Hans. The rest of the strong field fellowed within few seconds so everything was still possible. WP2 showed about the same picture although Hans fell back a few places and he’s 5th now at 3.26 minutes.
The Team knows how to keep one in suspense; De Rooy was still on the lead, only a slight edge on Marcel van Vliet with his MAN. The difference was only 15 seconds. Miki follows a few seconds later and Hans is still 5th. At this moment - an that’s a nice incidental circumstance - the virtual list of rankings consists of 3 Iveco’s and they fill the stand. At WP4 it’s a matter of changing guards between Miki who passes 2nd and Marcel van Vliet, a copy of WP4. The entire Team de Rooy still goes for the stage victory.
WP5 and WP6 were almost the same and could be a copy of WP4. It was still exciting and it looked good for Team de Rooy. At the finish we could draw the conclusion that today was a golden day for the entire Team de Rooy. Gerard finished first with a total time of 04:22:12 hours. Hans knows to reduce the damage and is second at 1:13 minute, followed by Miki who clocks 4:23.55 hours, only 30 seconds behind Hans. Fourth and fifth are Marcel van Vliet and Franz Echter in their MAN. They loose respectively 6:22 and 9:38 minutes on the winner of the day: Gerard de Rooy.
Stage 5 from Chilecite to Fiambala will be the first confrontation with real, and we mean real high dunes. This days could make things different from today. The trucks will do a liaison of 246 kilometres and a special of 177 kilometres. There is a possibility that the route will be adjusted because of the heavy rainfall. The first truck will start just before noon and it’s still the question whether the last truck will make it the same day until the bivouac…
2012/01/05 | 12:29 CET | ARTICLE: MR/SY/HS/DEROOY
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