After seeing off the challenge from more than 50 trucks from around the world, Powerstar Iveco truck #501 took the honors in Rosario at the end of the grueling challenge. The truck fitted with Goodyear ORD off-the-road truck tires in size 375/90R22.5 produced in Luxembourg was crewed by driver Gerard De Rooy from the Netherlands with co-driver Moises Torrallardona from Spain and mechanic Darek Rodewald from Poland.  Not only did the De Rooy team win the Dakar truck class, its Goodyear ORD equipped high-speed support truck driven by Ton Van Genugten finished the race 5th in the overall standings.  For Gerard De Rooy it´s the second win of the truck class at the Dakar following his success in 2012 but it´s the first time Goodyear truck tires are fitted on the winner´s race truck.

"Goodyear provided great technical support and counseling in advance of the Dakar, especially when it comes to tire pressure recommendations.  The conditions on the Dakar are without doubt as tough as you can get.  They comprise the worst of everything; including sand, rocks and mud; so tires are one of the most important factors.  The Goodyear ORD 375/90R22.5 off-the-road truck tires have been fantastic and a key element in us winning the event," said Gerard De Rooy.

"We congratulate Gerard De Rooy and team on their fantastic success, winning the overall truck classification of the Dakar 2016.  This has been a challenging, extreme real life test for our Goodyear ORD off-the-road truck tires.  By winning the truck class and the 5th place of the fast assistance truck Gerard De Rooy and his team have proved that these tires deliver high performance even in extreme off-the-road applications," said Benjamin Willot, Director Marketing Commercial Tires at Goodyear Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The Netherlands-based De Rooy team had entered three trucks fitted with Goodyear ORD off road truck tires in size 375/90R22.5 for the ‘Odyssey’ Dakar 2016.  These comprised the main race truck, driven by Gerard De Rooy, the truck of the De Rooy team member Ales Loprais and the high-speed support truck driven by Ton van Genugten.  The choice of Goodyear ORD tires was made after extensive joint testing with engineers from the Goodyear Innovation Center Luxembourg, helping the team to achieve the best setup to optimize tire performance in all the various conditions of the Dakar 2016.