Iveco trucks take first and second place in Dakar rally 16 January 2012

Iveco has completed the 33rd Dakar rally with a first, second and sixth place in the overall truck rankings.

The Petronas De Rooy Iveco team won the rally with Dutchman Gerard De Rooy driving an Iveco Powerstar, a vehicle produced and sold by Iveco in Australia.

The Iveco Powerstar was equipped with an FPT Industrial C13 engine, generating more than 900bhp, and Magneti Marelli parts.

Behind De Rooy, the other drivers, Stacey and Biasion, drove two Iveco Trakker Evolution 2s, equipped with the same engine and powertrain.

The three vehicles, although adapted for the extreme conditions of the rally, were standard Iveco trucks optimised for best-in-class energy efficiency.

"Iveco's participation in the Dakar 2012 aimed to confirm once more the excellent reliability of the Iveco trucks and of FPT Industrial engines," states Iveco CEO Alfredo Altavilla.

"Winning the rally and ranking three trucks in the first six positions is an outstanding success that shows the efficiency, strength and safety of the Iveco Trakker and Powerstar – already considered by customers as the ideal solution for everyday use and for tougher challenges," he adds.

Each vehicle had to endure extreme conditions crossing three countries of South America. The race, which started on January 1, in Mar del Plata, crossed Argentina, Chile and Peru, covering 14 stages and a total of 8,500km, around 4,200 of which were against the clock.

Author
John Challen

Related Companies
Iveco

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