Gerard de Rooy continues his fight towards the podium with his Iveco Powerstar, strengthening his
advantage by placing third in the seventh stage. Fellow teammate Hans Stacey finished eighth and
thereby maintains his place in the overall standings.

 

"With this kind of terrain, it is important that you are focused and careful with the vehicle’s tyres and
brakes. Every stone that you can avoid helps. After about 250 kilometers we saw Marcel van Vliet
(MAN) with a flat tyre. When you fall back on roads like today, there is no chance to improve because
overtaking is virtually impossible," said De Rooy at the end of the long stage.

 

Nikolaev (Kamaz), winner the Dakar 2013, took off aggressively from the start and took the lead. But
Teammate Sotnikov and De Rooy were some 30 seconds behind him. In the second half, he took De
Rooy managed to reduce the distance and place third. Hans Stacey and his Iveco Trakker finished in
8th place with a 15 minute gap behind the stage leader. The two other Iveco drivers, Vila and Adua

placed 15th and 16th respectively in their Iveco Trakkers.

 

In the overall standings, Gerard de Rooy strengthened his leading position with the Iveco Powerstar
with over 37 minutes ahead of Kamaz driver Karginov and over an hour ahead of Kamaz driver
Nikolaev who follows in third place. Hans Stacey and his Iveco Trakker are in fifth in the overall
standings, followed by Ales Loprais (Tatra) who trails him by 22 seconds.

Iveco teammate Pep Vila is in the top ten, in seventh, but has lost time, by almost half an hour to
Stacey and Loprais. With Jo Adua in 12th, all four Iveco trucks hold strong standings at the top of the
rankings.

 

After having faced the great heights of the Andes, the competitors have now left Argentina. The
eighth stage runs from Salta to Calama and features a total length of 824 kilometres. The first part of
the connection will begin very early. The first day on Chilean soil will be characterised by a 302
kilometre Special on hard and rocky terrain. The trucks will once again have to begin the Special
behind the cars, which means that overtaking attempts will be difficult to make.

 

 

 

Special 7 Results

 

 

1. EDUARD NIKOLAEV KAMAZ 5h02m41s

 

 

2. DMITRY SOTNIKOV KAMAZ +00:03:45

 

 

3. GERARD DE ROOY IVECO +00:04:34

 

 

4. PETER VERSLUIS MAN +00:08:04

 

 

5. ALES LOPRAIS TATRA +00:10:23

 

 

6. ANTON SHIBALOV KAMAZ +00:11:10

 

 

7. ANDREY KARGINOV KAMAZ +00:13:19

 

 

8. HANS STACEY IVECO +00:15:10

 

 

9. MARTIN VAN DEN BRINK GINAF +00:16:05

 

 

10. MARTIN KOLOMY TATRA +00:19:26

 

 

Overall Ranking

 

 

1. GERARD DE ROOY IVECO 28h21m42s

 

 

2. ANDREY KARGINOV KAMAZ 28h59m32s

 

 

3. EDUARD NIKOLAEV KAMAZ 29h24m50s

 

 

4. DMITRY SOTNIKOV KAMAZ 29h43m28s

 

 

5. HANS STACEY IVECO 30h07m02s

 

 

6. ALES LOPRAIS TATRA 30h07m24s

 

 

7. PEP VILA ROCA IVECO 30h33m08s

 

 

8. RENE KUIPERS MAN 30h55m46s

 

 

9. ANTON SHIBALOV KAMAZ 31h04m53s

 

 

10. MARCEL VAN VLIET MAN 31h11m39s