The reigning Dakar champion, Janus van Kasteren, will defend his title with the same team with which he won the Dakar: Team De Rooy. For Michiel Becx it means a return to the team with which he also drove the Dakar Rally in 2020. Both people from Brabant will drive an Iveco Powerstar.
With the addition of Van Kasteren and Becx to the line-up, the team now has three trucks for the Dakar Rally. The two gentlemen are joined by a lady: Anja van Loon. Van Loon already knew that she would be driving an Iveco Powerstar and has already made kilometers with the truck this season. But the Team De Rooy trucks are not going to Saudi Arabia unprepared, they will drive the Rallye du Maroc in October.
It will be Van Kasteren's sixth participation in the Dakar Rally. In 2018 he drove the Dakar Rally for the first time and in 2024 he will participate for the fourth time with Team De Rooy in the toughest rally in the world. In 2023 Van Kasteren managed to win the rally, partly by winning three stages. Van Kasteren took the lead on stage 10 and never relinquished it.
It will be Becx's fourth participation in the rally. In 2019 he made his debut in the car, in 2020 he drove the rally in an Iveco Trakker of Team De Rooy and in 2022 he drove an SSV. In 2024 he will therefore be back behind the wheel of a truck and will compete in the Iveco Powerstar.
During the Rallye du Maroc, which takes place from 12 to 18 October, Team De Rooy will experience 'the rehearsal' for the Dakar Rally. It will be the last test for the trucks and the crews, but also for the team to dot all the i's and cross the t's. The rally is extra special because Van Kasteren can become world champion in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship. Van Kasteren's victory in the Dakar Rally puts him leading the standings by 11 points ahead of Martin Macik and 47 points ahead of Tomas Vratny.
Source Team De Rooy
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