Of course, first of all it is Iveco team and its leader Gerard de Rooy – the winner of Dakar-2012, Dakar-2016, the prize-winner of Dakar-2014, Dakar-2004, Dakar-2009, the Silk Way Rally-2009, the representative of Dakar winners dynasty. The Dutch performs for already 16 years on the Dakar Rally. Apart from Gerard himself, the talented Argentinean pilot Federico Villagra will pretend for the top trophies of Dakar-2017. Last year he was third in the truck category. The new pilot of Petronas Team De Rooy Iveco will become Wulfert Van Ginkel. The sportsmen performed in Ginaf Rally before, this year he signed a one-year contract with Gerard de Rooy’s team and will support the crew of Gerard De Rooy. It is going to be the 11th start of the Dutch on Dakar. After the fifth position on Dakar 2016 the Iveco team decided to change role of Ton Van Genugten. Now his truck won’t longer function as a fast assistance and will go for a result.
One more top team of the truck division is the Dutch Veka MAN Truck. This year famous Hans Stacey (the winner of Dakar-2007) joined it. Last autumn tests in Morocco Pieter Versluis, the leader of the team, also showed a good result. His main quality apart from being an excellent pilot is that he is also mentally resilient and able to stay positive, and that means to keep a good tempo till the end of the marathon. One more experienced fighter appeared in MAN team: Astana Motorsports team signed a contract with the Dutch according to which Artur Ardavichus will drive one of their trucks.
Ales Loprais became a kind of sensation of autumn-2016: he returned to the wheel of Tatra – the winner of the Silk Way Rally-2011, the prize-winner of Dakar-2007, Central European Rally, Silk Way Rally-2009, he took the fourth position of Dakar-2015, and he is also a nephew of Karel Loprais, the six-time winner of Dakar. Thus, the Czech team Tatra Buggyra Racing will definitely pretend for the top positions in the truck category.
Moreover, famous Martin Kolomy will assist Loprais , though the word “assist” is not suitable here. «Fat Boy» Martin Kolomy has an image of independent player, able to surprise his rivals. In a word, the Czech have excellent chances this year. They have good financing, experienced pilots, united team and excellent trucks with engines, designed by professionals of Buggyra Racing.
The Dutch Martin van den Brink stays in MKR Adventure team and is sponsored by strong companies, Mario Kress, Mammoet and Eurol designed an absolutely new bonnet truck Renault Sherpa for Silk Way Rally-2016. On the route Moscow-Beijing this truck was a strong rival for KAMAZ-master team. As a result, the Dutch was third to finish. Unfortunately, on September tests in Slovenia the bonnet truck was burned down (according to Martin the reason was most likely a collapse of the turbine oil supply hose. Spraying onto the hot turbine, the oil immediately flamed out and the fire covered the whole truck within several seconds.) What a surprise it was for rivals when on Paris Presentation of Dakar-2017 in November, the recovered red bonnet truck was meeting guests at the entrance. Two more Renault trucks will perform on the marathon. Known from two recent Dakars the cabover bolids will be driven by Pascal de Baar and Gert Huzink.
DakarSpeed and Top Trucks teams joined forces and are now preparing 2 Scania trucks. The second Scania is designed for Victor Versteijnen. Maurik Van Den Heuvel (12th in the last Dakar) and Victor Versteijnen are positive and ambitious about the upcoming rally. In October the guys had tests in Morocco in order to check all last modifications in their trucks one more time.
Three crews of MAZ-SPORTauto team perform on the Dakar Rally. The Belorussian team and KAMAZ have friendly relations. That is why the sportsmen never call each other “rivals”. Preparing for changes of Dakar regulations, that limit the engine volume up to 13 liters from 2018, the Belorussian team prepared two trucks with 13-litre engines by the Czech Buggyra Racing team.
As we see, rivals in the truck category are very strong. Of course, a lot depends on luck in that kind of extreme marathon. But as KAMAZ-master leader Vladimir Chagin said on the December press-conference” Good luck is the readiness to take a chance”. The upcoming two weeks of hard fight will show who among the rivals are going to use this chance.
