The world's toughest rally raid crossed the border to Bolivia, entering a third country in only four days of racing. Stage 4 proved to be very hard for the crews, as they had to cope with altitudes of more than 3,500 metres above sea level and difficult navigation through the sand dunes approaching Tupiza, where today's special ended.
After a long timed section of 416 kilometres and almost five hours, Gerard de Rooy's IVECO managed to overtake Airat Mardeev's Kamaz in the last section to secure a victory in the fourth stage of the 2017 Dakar Rally. This is a great sign that yesterday's problems in the tyre system are now resolved and the Dutchman is back in contention for the leading places. In the overall classification he has climbed back to fifth position, 14m15s behind the leader.
The iveco Trakkers did a great job and finished the stage inside the Top 10. Ton van Genugten took his #507 to 7th position, having worked hard on the road to Tupiza and gained a lot of ground in the second part.
Wuf van Ginkel, who is tasked with providing technical and mechanical assistance to his teammates in the PETRONAS De Rooy IVECO Team, finished the stage 25m32s behind the leader, in 10th place..
With today's performance, Van Genugten and Van Ginkel move up in the overall classification, Ton in 10th place and Wuf in 16th position.
Behind the wheel of the other IVECO Powerstar in the race, Federico Villagra finished in the Top 5 and moved up to second place in overall classification, as his rivals lost time in today's stage.
On Friday, the Dakar caravan will travel north to Oruro, in Bolivia, with a timed stage of 438 kilometres for Trucks.
Stage 4 Results – Dakar 2017
1. Gerard de Rooy (IVECO) 4h55m55s
2. Airat Mardeev (Kamaz) +30s
3. Anton Shibalov (Kamaz) +3m07s
4. Dmitry Sotnikov (Kama) +7m37s
5. Federico Villagra (IVECO) +16m37s
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7. Ton van Genugten (IVECO) +19m40s
10. Wuf van Ginkel (IVECO) + 25m32s
Overall Classification – Dakar 2017
1. Dmitry Sotnikov (Kamaz) 11h12m40s
2. Federico Villagra (IVECO) +1m55s
3. Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz) +4m40s
4. Anton Shibalov (Kamaz) +5m34s
5. Gerard de Rooy (IVECO) +14m15s
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10. Ton van Genugten (IVECO) + 33m09s
16. Wuf van Ginkel (IVECO) + 1h21m23s
Follow all the news at www.iveco.com/dakar
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 social media channels will be updated every day, with all the latest news as well as reports, videos and photos.
