Petronas keeping de Rooy in contention for Dakar glory

To avoid the dust and sand that comes with that, filters are normally used, but the Petronas Team de Rooy Iveco has also adopted other shrewd measures – the fruits of a close collaboration between the Dutch team and the engine fluid experts of Petronas Motorsport, working in Villastellone, Italy.

De Rooy led the pack in the fourth stage of the 2017 Dakar, making up for a difficult preceding day, where his lost half an hour to Kamaz rival Eduard Nikolaev. But Thursday presented a good opportunity to recover that time, given the Powerstar truck's six cylinders were expected to lose less horsepower than others at 4000 metres above sea level.

Indeed, the Dutch driver won the 416km stage that encompassed all the usual challenges of the Dakar – dunes, rivers and rare air.

"Yesterday we had a lot of problems with the tyres, three tyres went down, so that cost us about 30 minutes," de Rooy said. "Today everything went well.

"We really didn't make any navigation mistakes, but a lot of other people went the wrong way. We saw people coming from the opposite direction. So, I think we did a very good job today. It was a good stage. It was a mix of river beds and mountains - some paths were wet and some were dry. I liked it.

"There's still a long race. Look at yesterday - some people made mistakes with navigation and today they made the same mistakes in the dunes. I overtook a lot of guys there – and a lot could still happen, it's still very early."

The performance of de Rooy's Powerstar on Thursday was made possible by the job of the FCA technicians. They have developed an engine that has to hold for just 10 thousand kilometres – as opposed to the many more done by a road truck – but one that also needs particular attention the choice of the fluids that protect its six cylinders.

Petronas sponsors de Rooy's team, but as the important as the financial backing is, the day-to-day, stage-by-stage technical support is also crucial for the 2016 Dakar champion. De Rooy discovered, for example, the effectiveness of the additives provided to his fuel during test runs in Morocco. Reluctant at first, he understood the importance of the substances and now will not settle for less.

With the Petronas Durance TMF Plus (which dilutes a litre for every 250 litres of gas-oil) it is possible to clean the injectors in hot weather, sand and altitude. The chemical additive allows to increase the lubrication and make the injectors cleaner, both of which are crucial for the "dirty" types of gas-oil you usually encounter during the South American challenge.

The fuel of the Dakar is furnished by the organisers from local providers – and the gas-oil inside can vary greatly as a result. These fuels in certain conditions, hot and humid, can produce bacteria that can obstruct the filters and hamper the truck's performance. The Petronas Durance TMF plus additive serves to attack those bacteria and keep the injectors clean, stressing the fuel pumps less to ensure best possible reliability.

"Thursday was a very good day for us," de Rooy concluded. "We have shown that we have the pace to win, and it's encouraging having [teammate] Federico Villagra in second in the overall classification."