Autosportfoto

Iveco vehicles and FPT engines on their way to Dakar 2014

Iveco and FPT Industrial will take part in the 2014 Dakar rally, the sixth to take place on the South American continent. The ship carrying the Iveco vehicles belonging to the Iveco De Rooy Petronas team has departed from the port of Le Havre, France.

Entitled "the Odyssey", this rally will be one of the longest and most challenging in recent years, crossing through three countries: Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. It will begin on 5 January 2014 from Rosario in Argentina and end on 18 January in Valparaiso, Chile.

As in the previous events, Iveco and FPT Industrial are once again official sponsors of the Iveco De Rooy Petronas team from the Netherlands, providing vehicles and engines to the team. Dakar 2014 marks the fourth year Iveco and FPT Industrial have partnered with Team De Rooy, first making their début together at the 2011 Morocco Rally.

The team is composed of: Gerard de Rooy, Dutch driver, team leader and winner of the 2012 Dakar, once again on board the Iveco PowerStar; Dutch driver Hans Stacey with an Iveco Trakker Evolution 3; Spanish driver Pep Vila and French driver Jo Adua, who has already taken part in the Dakar eight times, with a Trakker Evolution 2.

The Iveco Trakker is a quarry-site vehicle from the on/off-road heavy range, able to operate on rough terrain, just like the ones that the Dakar drivers will have to tackle in South America. The vehicle provides robustness and reliability combined with the power of the FPT Industrial Cursor engines.

Robustness is precisely the main strength of this vehicle: every single component, starting from the high yield limit steel frame, guarantees long lasting performance. The new Trakker also features ergonomic and high performance ZF gearboxes. Customer vehicles include a choice between the manual 9-speed and 16-speed Ecosplit versions, equipped with a servo-shift system, and the automatic EuroTronic 12- and 16-speed models, with a gear selector built into the steering column stalk, which improves driving comfort.

The Iveco Trakker is produced at the company's manufacturing facility in Madrid, alongside the flagship Stralis on-road range.

The vehicles taking part in the 2014 Dakar rally are equipped with FPT Industrial Cursor 13 engines. Each 13 litre unit can deliver up to 900hp and a maximum torque of 3,800 Nm at 1,100 rev/min. Thanks to on-going research and development activities, the Cursor 13 engine, with a six cylinder in-line architecture features the most advanced technologies, such as a second generation HD Common Rail injection system, providing pressures up to 2,200 bar. The engine is also characterised by high power, fast load response, maximum robustness and reliability.

As always, the Dakar represents an important opportunity for Iveco and FPT Industrial to test the performance and reliability of its vehicles and engines in extraordinary and extremely difficult conditions.

A novelty of this rally will be the greater variation of routes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and quads, in the name of greater safety for both drivers and spectators. Approximately 60 per cent of the route will be common for all vehicle types: cars and trucks will skip the stage in Bolivia, but will perform a circuit with departure and arrival in Salta, following a rest day.