The tail end, and LE DAKAR 2013 has finished. Most of the competitors are glad to see the finish except for one: Gerard like to make up another 5 minutes with his IVECO Powerstar to take a place on the stand.
It was clear; both riders knew from the beginning onwards that they couldn´t lose a second during the last 128 kilometres from La Serena to Santiago. Gerard de Rooy opens strong and is 21 seconds ahead at WP1. However, at WP2 it´s the other way around and it´s Mardeev who is 3 seconds ahead of Gerard. At WP3, the end of the first part of the Special, Mardeev still takes the lead and is 9 seconds ahead of Gerard. At that moment they take the 2nd and 3rd place and have been taken over by Peter Versluis.
It´s a blood-curdling last stage and both gentleman want the most eligible last place on the stand. After the neutralisation there are only a few more kilometres to go; in fact too short to create differences. Who has the best nerves and who steers his truck in the best tempo to the finish?
At the end Peter Versluis takes his first victory. Gerard finished 2nd at 2.04 minutes and Miki takes a splendid 3rd place at 2.17 minutes.
The Kamaz-trio follows…. Mardeev is only 35 seconds behind Gerard and Nikolaev and Karginov take the 7th and 8th place, losing only a few minutes.
René Kuipers finished 18th at 27.01 minutes behind today´s leader.
René Kuipers: “Today it was again a beautiful day; what a great truck, this IVECO. In the beginning we stopped for Martin van den Brink who turned over and we lost some time to help him up. I understand that we can ask the organisation to compensate this time. For the rest it was a very nice experience; it certainly is very morish.”
Tom Colsoul: “I don´t think this Special was meant for trucks. Part one went across a very narrow pass so we were obliged to eat someone else´s dust. Part two was a very narrow track between trees. So we didn´t have any opportunity to take any action. I think I´ll have an early sleep ad have a good cry.”
Gerard de Rooy: “Well, what shall I say. Perfect truck, super condition, no trophy…..”
