Irish Motor Sports News – Petronas Team De Rooy Iveco’s van Genugten to start in Morocco Desert Challenge

Petronas Team De Rooy Iveco’s van Genugten to start in Morocco Desert Challenge

Mar 02, 2019

Petronas Team De Rooy Iveco will participate in the Morocco Desert Challenge (12-20 April) with one truck. The driver of the new Iveco Powerstar with independent wheel suspension will be Ton van Genugten. Gerard de Rooy enters in the Raid category, with an ordinary 4×4.

It took a while for Team De Rooy to confirm their registration. “We were waiting for a number of parts,” says Gerard de Rooy. “The Morocco Desert Challenge, a rally with nearly 40 race trucks at the start, is very suitable for us to test the new Powerstar. The parts we needed are here now and we’re working hard to have the truck ready on time.”

Ton van Genugten will drive it. “For me it is a new truck”, says Van Genugten. “Gerard drove it in the Silk Way Rally, Wuf van Ginkel drove it in the Africa Eco Race and now it’s my turn. I have heard so many good things about the Morocco Desert Challenge that I could not resist. Peter Willemsen, my navigator in the Dakar Rally, could not join, but my previous co-pilot, Anton van Limpt, who did the MDC before was more than happy to come. That’s a trusted combination, which I am very pleased with.”

Gerard de Rooy himself goes to Morocco as team manager and since he has to go from A to B every day anyway, he gets in a 4×4 with a couple of friends to take part in the Raid category, out of competition and purely for fun. “It is important that different people test the new truck, that it makes some mileage and that we can further develop the truck.”

In the first two rallies the new truck participated in, it had quite some teething troubles. Van Genugten is well aware that testing is the main goal. “I’ll take off in that mode and we’ll see what happens. There are many participants who have already done the Morocco Dessert Challenge much more often and who therefore know better what to expect.”

MDC director Gert Duson is of course pleased with the participation of Team De Rooy. “This shows once again that the Morocco Desert Challenge, with 300 vehicles at the start, has become a top event, in which serious rally and competition go hand in hand with conviviality and team spirit. A top team like De Rooy can not be missing in such a race.”

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