Press Releases

​After trouble yesterday, Vick Versteijnen led the PETRONAS Team De Rooy IVECO fleet as the race arrives to the city of Ha’il in northern central Saudi Arabia, with Janus van Kasteren also in the Top 10


In a very sandy stage in the fifth day of competition, PETRONAS Team De Rooy IVECO proved once again its strength to overcome the most difficult roads of Saudi Arabia. 353 timed kilometers were necessary to link Al Ula and Ha’il, where most of the caravan has arrived after a tough day at the wheel of their vehicles.

Although Vick Versteijnen retired from the competition yesterday after failing to start the stage, with the new ‘Dakar Experience’ rule, the Dutchman was allowed to race in the rest of the competition, only posting times for the stage classification, but without participating anymore in the overall standings.

Thus, Versteijnen turned his luck for today’s special and put his #522 Powerstar in sixth position, more than half an hour away from the leading vehicles. He concluded a great day that went from low to high, as the 18th position in the first waypoint shows, climbing to 13th, 9th and 7th in the following checkpoints before getting the final 6th place.

Janus van Kasteren continues to be the best PETRONAS Team De Rooy IVECO in the general standings. The crew from the #505 Powerstar made it to the Top 10 this Thursday, losing 45m30s to stage winner Dmitry Sotnikov, as a consequence of descending from the truck three times, one of them with problems in the suspension. He advanced to sixth place overall after trouble for the Kamaz of Eduard Nikolaev, and is a bit more of twenty minutes behind Macik in the Top 5.

Albert Llovera, from Andorra, keeps on going with his consistent run in Dakar 2020, looking for his best overall position. In today’s fifth stage, the #517 finished in 15th position, less than an hour behind the winners. Llovera is now 14th, 3h51m15s adrift.

Michiel Becx reached the end of the stage in Ha’il in 20th place and is now 18th in the general standings with a penalty of 40 minutes. More than 8 hours separates his crew from the lead, as it continues to assist flawlessly to the whole PETRONAS Team De Rooy IVECO.

In Stage 6, Dakar caravan will leave the city of Ha’il towards Saudi Arabia’s capital city: Riyadh. With more than 8 million inhabitants, it is the perfect spot for the Rest Day, but before crews will battle through 478 timed kilometers of pure sand and dunes at more than 500 meters above sea level.


STAGE 5 RESULTS