Several vehicles got in trouble in the extremely muddy conditions in yesterday's stage, a truck tipped over in a river, and the navigation with the route map became almost impossible for the participants. As weather conditions did not improve, Marc Coma and the organisers decided to cancel Stage 6, which was to be the longest in the 2017 edition of the rally.
The decision was made on Friday night, when the bad conditions of the roads for Saturday were confirmed. In a press release, ASO reported the situation:
"Considering the extreme climatic conditions and that some drivers are still on the stage course, considering that is impossible to bring vehicles of all participants back to the bivouac and prepare the next stage in the best conditions, and considering that people of the organisation in charge of the reco of tomorrow's stage course informed that the road is unpracticable, the 6th stage of ORURO-LA PAZ has been cancelled."
"In the first 100 kilometres we went through the mountains. It was very hard. At the beginning it was a bit dry, but then it started to rain. We had good grip and managed to get through perfectly in the navigation, while rivals got lost," stated Gerard de Rooy, who reached his 32nd stage win in Dakar Rallies.
As Sunday will be the Rest Day for drivers, this means that there will be no competition until Monday, when the crews will attack the La Paz – Uyuni stage.
Gerard de Rooy and IVECO start the weekend at the top of the overall classification, having won the last two specials.
Dutchmen from, Ton van Genugten and Wuf van Ginkel, will be able to work on their IVECO Trakkers #507 and #525 in preparation for the second part of the race, having had a difficult stage on Friday.
Meanwhile, Federico Villagra, behind the wheel of another IVECO Powerstar, will set his sights on returning to the Top 5 in the general classification.
Overall Classification – Dakar 2017
1. Gerard de Rooy (IVECO) 14h06m07s
2. Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz) + 2m23s
3. Dmitry Sotnikov (Kamaz) + 6m36s
4. Airat Mardeev (Kamaz) + 16m32s
5. Pascal de Baar (Renault Trucks) + 32m25s
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6. Federico Villagra (IVECO) + 34m30s
23. Ton van Genugten (IVECO) + 6h07m03s
25. Wuf van Ginkel (IVECO) + 7h04m34s
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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.
