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Muddy second stage in Dakar Rally 2017
Gerard de Rooy placed the best Iveco of the day in fifth place after a very quick stage, with damp roads and too much mud between Resistencia and San Miguel de Tucumán.
The Dakar caravan arrived at the Bivouac in Tucumán, north of Argentina, after a long day with more than 800 kilometres driven. The four crews of Iveco are still tight in contention for the race, with the two Powerstars inside the Top 10.
Drivers arrived at the finish line with too much mud and dust in their vehicles and talked to the press about how hard some of the stages were because of the water in the roads. The mud and high speeds –over 100 km/h- were some of the hazards in this special.
With two fifth places in the first two days of racing, Gerard de Rooy’s Iveco is now fourth in the overall classification, with more than three hours in the bag.
Petronas Team de Rooy Iveco leader, closed the second stage 3m03s off Martin van der Brink, winner of the day and the man ahead in the overall classification. De Rooy was only 11 seconds away from the podium today.
Federico Villagra, the argentine driver who finished third in the last Dakar, arrived sixth, two seconds behind his teammate De Rooy. Villagra moved up two places in the overall and went from 9th to 7th. Both crews of the Powerstars are looking to be consistent in the stages, and as days will go by, they will be climbing positions towards the podium.
The Iveco Trakkers were a bit relegated today. Ton van Genugten, the Dutchman that yesterday gave Iveco its first stage podium in this 2017 Dakar Rally, suffered a puncture and finished 13m01s behind the winner, falling from 2nd place to 16th in the classification.
Although Wuf van Ginkel is still outside the Top 20, he managed to recover some positions in this stage after finisihing 26th, climbing from the 42nd to the 28th position after a disastrous first day.
On Tuesday, Dakar Rally will continue its way to the north of Argentina and for the first time this year it will go over the 4.000 metres above sea level. Truck category will have a special stage of 146 kilometres and another 416 kilometres of liasion to arrive to San Salvador de Jujuy.