Two rally raids, two continents, one team competing for success in the most demanding routes in the world. This year, Team PETRONAS De Rooy IVECO will tackle extreme terrains, competing in two different competitions on board four IVECO Powerstar.

For the eighth consecutive year, IVECO will be the official supplier of Team PETRONAS De Rooy IVECO and provide them with vehicles, engines and spare parts. The IVECO Powerstar vehicles are equipped with IVECO Cursor 13 engines with up to 1000 hp of power specially engineered by FPT Industrial – CNH Industrial‘s powertrain brand.

For its 40^th edition – and the 10^th in South America – the Dakar 2018 will set high standards from the start: competitors will kick off in Lima and immediately face the harsh Peruvian sandscapes. The Dakar will then leave the desert to take on the mountains of the Bolivian Altiplano with a faster track, and the need to adjust to an altitude of 2,500 metres. In Argentina the rally raid will reach the most difficult part, with the Super Fiambalá stage.

Kazakh Artur Ardavichus will compete with co-pilot Serge Bruynkens and mechanic Michel Huisman on board his #508 IVECO Powerstar. The newest driver of Team PETRONAS De Rooy IVECO, he made his debut in the Silk Way Rally 2017, taking 4^th place.

Dutch pilot Ton Van Genugten, co-pilot Peter Willemsen and mechanic Bernard der Kinderen will also compete in the Dakar rally for the PETRONAS De Rooy IVECO Team in their #509 IVECO Powerstar.

For its 10^th edition, the Africa Eco Race will welcome a record number of competitors. More than a hundred vehicles, nearly 200 riders, drivers and co-drivers, will start from Monaco on 31 December. Gerard De Rooy, at the wheel of his IVECO Powerstar, will be following on the footsteps of his father Jan, who won the rally‘s first edition, and is the favourite of the 15 truck participants.

From 31 December, the official start and drive from Monaco to the ferry boarding in Sete – to 14 January, competitors will cross Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal before reaching the legendary Lac Rose, in Dakar, for a spectacular closing stage. The pilots will cover 6,500 km, of which more than half will be special stages along the tracks of Morocco and in the Sahara Desert in Mauritania, in an adventure that will test their endurance and navigation skills to the limit.

Gerard De Rooy, team leader, will compete in his #400 IVECO Powerstar with his experienced co-pilot Moi Torrallardona and the technical support of mechanic Darek Rodewald. Wuf Van Ginkel, with co-pilot Erik Kofman and mechanic Bert van Donkelaar will compete in the second IVECO Powerstar (#403). 

Follow all developments on www.iveco.com/TeamPetronasDeRooyIveco