Iveco leads Dakar Rally

The #501 Iveco Powerstar of Gerard De Rooy is leading the 2016 Dakar Rally after stage nine, maintaining a gap of 27 minutes and 12 seconds from second-placed Eduard Nikolaev in his Kamaz.

Dutchman De Rooy won stage nine by just under four minutes from fellow countryman (and Iveco campaigner) Ton Van Genugten, over a 285km loop from the Argentine town of Belen. Third for the stage was Russia's Andrey Karginov, his Kamaz some 16 minutes adrift of De Rooy.

So far the expected domination of the Kamaz teams has failed to materialise, with Iveco entries claiming three of the top four slots in the overall standings and all but Nikolaev's second-placed truck falling outside the top five.

Airat Mardeev, who powered his Kamaz to victory in last year's Dakar, currently sits in sixth place, some 51 minutes and 49 seconds behind De Rooy.

Still, with four stages remaining before the competitors cross the finish line in Rosario, anything can happen.

DAKAR RALLY, GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 9
1. #501 Gerard De Rooy (NLD), Iveco Powerstar, 28h30m46s
2. #502 Eduard Nikolaev (RUS), Kamaz 4326, +27m12s
3. #514 Federico Villagra (ARG), Iveco Powerstar, +41m24s
4. #516 Ton Van Genugten (NLD), Iveco Trakker, +45m02s
5. #510 Pieter Versluis (NLD), Man TGS 480, +49m00s