Goodyear ready to support De Rooy truck team for Dakar challenge

Janus van Kasteren and Vick Versteijnen’s design

Final day in the workshop

Martin and Mitchel van den Brink’s design

Testdrive in Loon op Zand

The 2023 motorsport season waits no time to get started, with one of the world’s most prestigious races already getting underway while New Year’s celebrations are going on around the globe. From 31 December 2022 to 15 January 2023, the 2023 Dakar will tear across the Saudi Arabian mountains and desert. Teams complete 14 stages criss-crossing the country from the Red Sea to the Arabian Gulf and covering almost 5000 km.

Goodyear is a partner of Team De Rooy Iveco, providing them with tires and tire management solutions for every stage.

Tires are important part of teams’ preparation for the Dakar. They are the only contact point between vehicles and the ever-changing surface of sand and rocks, as well as steep inclines and descents. Competition regulations stipulate teams to use standard tire types that are readily available for sale, so leading Dutch team De Rooy has once again chosen Goodyear Offroad tires. This design features a dedicated off-road compound, deep non-skid tread and improved resistance to cuts; all of which is ready to support the driver facing various roads.

Team De Rooy has four Iveco PowerStar trucks ready to take on the Dakar with Goodyear. Janus van Kasteren and Victor Versteijnen will pilot the two Boss Machinery trucks, carrying numbers #502 and #504, respectively, while the pair of Eurol-sponsored Ivecos will be raced by Martin van den Brink (#506) and Mitchel van den Brink (#511).

Supporting Team De Rooy in the Dakar is an important part of the development cycle for new Goodyear commercial tires and solutions. Alongside the experience gained from being the exclusive tire supplier and title partner to the Goodyear FIA European Truck Racing Championship, this exposure to high-stakes racing complements the work carried out on the road, the test track and the laboratory. Goodyear uses information gathered from all these different arenas to develop new tread and carcass technologies that go into the products available for fleets across Europe. The result is an offering with efficiency, sustainability and competitiveness at its core.