Double podium for Iveco in the stage and overall lead in Dakar Rally

​​​​​​​​​Two Ivecos from the Petronas Team De Rooy entered the Top 5 today with Ton van Genugten on the podium in Stage 7, while Gerard de Rooy, in his Powerstar #500, closed the special in fourth, 4m25s behind Dmitry Sotnikov and keeps the advantage in the overall as the competition arrives to Uyuni.

Dakar Rally caravan is again moving after two days without race activity due to heavy rain in Bolivia. The organisation was forced once again to shorten Stage 7, as a result of the continuous bad weather that affe​ct the roads.

The 322 kilometres special was cut to the half, only 161 kilometres were taken into account for the clock in a mixed stage with sections of Stage 6 –which was cancelled on Saturday- and Stage 7. Today is the beginning of the “Marathon Stage”, where the teams of all categories except Trucks, cannot work on their cars and only the drivers are allowed to do the job.

Despite of the difficulties for the participants, it has been a great day for Petronas Team De Rooy Iveco. With the #507 Trakker, Ton van Genugten finished in the second place, only 2m51s off Sotnikov’s time, winner of the day. The Dutchman takes advantage of this fantastic result to advance in the overall classification, after a hard end of the first part of the Dakar.

Gerard de Rooy, last Dakar winner in Trucks, secured a good journey with a fourth place that keeps him in front of the sheets in his #500 Powerstar with five stages still to run until the arrival to Buenos Aires.

Wuf van Ginkel, with the #525 Iveco Trakker, was a bit relegated today, falling back to 13th place, 12 minutes adrift. In this way, Van Ginkel is more than seven hours behind the leaders and outside the Top 20.

In the #502 Powerstar, Federico Villagra achieved another podium finish and arrived third to Uyuni, less than one minute behind Ton van Genugten. The Argentine driver is now placed in fifth position, getting a second Iveco inside the Top 5 in the overall classification.

The race will continue its way to Argentina tomorrow, in a very long day for the participants. Almost 900 kilometres will be run, with 492 of them in a timed stage between Bolivia and Argentina.

For those who want to read more details about the team, vehicles and follow day by day activity, you can go to www.iveco.com/dakar.

​​​​Results Stage 7​ and General Trucks

General Ranking​