
Stage 13 Shaybah – Al-Hofuf
Stage for today contains 521km liaison and 154km special stage.
Stage info
Liaison > 521 km – Special > 154 km
Press release
Boss Machinery Team De Rooy Iveco can hardly miss victory
Before the noses of Janus van Kasteren jr, Marcel Snijders and Derek Rodewald could smell the sweet scent of triumph, the last serious stage of this Dakar rally had to be driven first.

βWe only cheer when we cross the finish line.β Janus already recorded yesterday. Today the thirteenth stage awaited with a special stage of 153 kilometers. After a negligible liaison of 9 kilometers, the participants dived into the dunes for the last time.
Where 55 trucks started the rally on December 31, only 15 are remaining in the general classification. This indicates how tough this edition of the Dakar is. Today was certainly not an easy special stage. Fortunately, Boss Machinery Team De Rooy Iveco got through this day well. Van Kasteren jr. had to start first and went for it.
Tactical driving by slowing down a bit is not for the man from Veldhoven. With the fastest interim times on waypoints one and two, Janus Jr. proved his point. The men got stuck for a short moment. Fortunately, the Iveco rally truck is equipped with hydraulic jacks. With the help of those jacks, they quickly freed themselves again.
It did cost the men in their Iveco Powerstar stage victory, but with the second place in this special stage, the overall victory is almost certain. Although Janus does not want to celebrate too soon. βFinish it tomorrow.β
Janus’ comments show that it was not an easy day: βIt was full throttle up against those dunes. There were only dunes. Very loose sand, so it wasn’t just another, easy day. After we got stuck, Macik passed us, but we were able to catch up with him quickly. Marcel’s good navigation skills certainly made the difference there. We then followed Macik to the finish.β So, it was another fantastic team performance today.
Tomorrow a final stage awaits, which the organization describes as an incredibly fast beach special that hardly creates possibilities for changes in the general standings.
Janus van Kasteren jr., together with navigator Marcel Snijders and mechanic Darek Rodewald, can therefore prepare for a triumphal journey from the beach of Al-Hofuf to Dammam. Because fellow Team De Rooy pilot Martin van de Brink had technical setbacks today, just like yesterday, the lead of Boss Machinery Team De Rooy Iveco is big enough to take the dream title.
Victory can hardly escape them
“We will finish with our heads held high.”
Equipes Eurol Team De Rooy Iveco fight hard and never give up
AL-HOFUF – In the penultimate stage of the Dakar Rally, a broken gearbox has blown the fairy tale for Martin van den Brink. Despite the technical problems, the Harskamper can hope for a podium place at the ceremony in Dammam.
Mitchel van den Brink finished sixth today and will defend fourth place tomorrow on the final day. The teams of Eurol Team De Rooy Iveco can be very satisfied with the third and fourth place in the final ranking.
Martin van den Brink, Erik Kofman and Richard Mouw still hoped for a ‘small miracle’. The stage in the Empty Quarter consisted mainly of dunes. In the border area with the United Arab Emirates and Oman, Martin wanted to go for another stage victory.
Quite early in the special, a technical problem threw a spanner in the works. De Harskamper finally crossed the finish line in nineteenth place with a gap of 2 hours 13 minutes and 25 seconds.
Martin Macik won the special. Janus van Kasteren finished second at 3m25s and can drive relaxed to victory tomorrow. Martin van den Brink, the 52-year-old rally pilot will record his best performance ever in the ‘toughest rally in the world and his fifteenth Dakar Rally. βLast year, Martin, also in an Iveco Powerstar, finished sixth overall. Although the Kamaz team from Russia is absent, Martin will for sure cherish his very much desired podium finish tomorrow.
Experienced crew
βWe ran into problems quite early in the special,” says an audibly disappointed Martin van den Brink. βWe lost a sensor in the gearbox. After 60 kilometers we were stranded and no longer had reverse gear. We had to top up the oil and the last 100 kilometers we drove without reverse gear.β
In the dunes this is very unpleasant for most pilots and even virtually impossible for many teams. βNothing could go wrong on the last two dunes. We succeeded with our experienced crew,” says Martin, who gave navigator Erik Kofman and mechanic Richard Mouw the credits they deserved.
βWe are of course disappointed that we had this problem. However, we kept fighting and didnβt give up. Now we go to the bivouac in Al Hofuf. We can’t go faster than 80 km per hour and we still have 500 kilometers to go,” said Martin just after the thirteenth stage.
Disappointment or satisfaction?
In the cabin of the Powerstar, the men of Eurol Team De Rooy Iveco have enough time to give their feelings a proper place. It is clear that disappointment and satisfaction fight for priority. βIt’s a pity, but this is Dakar. We are now third and tomorrow we will finish it. We made our move in the first week. Now we need to secure the podium through the lead we built up. If that works out, we can still leave the rally with our heads held high,” a very realistic Van den Brink senior said in conclusion.
Not a suitable birthday present
Mitchel van den Brink, Moi Torrallardona and Jarno van de Pol had to give up their hopes of a stage win quite early, due to Martinβs problems.
Driver

Mitchel van den Brink
Co-driver

Moi Torrallardona Jou
Mechanic

Jarno van de Pol
They eventually finished sixth at 25m08s. De Harskamper would have liked another birthday present. Despite the third place of Jaroslav Valtr, the fourth place overall for Mitchel and his men is not in danger. And the now 21-year-old rally driver can be very happy with that. Mitchel won a stage and that gives his fourth place overall, in his first Dakar Rally as βpilot in competitionβ, even more shine.
“Couldn’t do anything more.”
βAfter 20 kilometers we lost sight of my father,” says Mitchel. βWe drove around a dune to look for him. We saw them standing against a dune with gearbox problems. Our mechanic Jarno helped Richard, the mechanic on dad’s truck. We then continued together, but after 20 kilometers we decided to resume the race. The troubles were not over but there was nothing more we could do except handing over some of our stuff like oil. Too bad second place is gone. We should be happy with third place. That’s just the way it is.”
After the special, it turned out that also Janus van Kasteren had a technical problem. βJanus was standing on the side of the road with a rear axle problem. There is enough work tonight in the bivouac,” says Mitchel van den Brink.
Long way to bivouac
But before the trucks can be handed over to the mechanics of Team De Rooy, they still have to cover some kilometers on the asphalt. The liaison to the bivouac in Al Hofuf is no less than 510 kilometers.
The teams can then prepare for the final day. The final stage of 136 km on the banks of the Persian Gulf takes the caravan to the finish in Dammam. This brings the total tomorrow to more than 4700 race kilometers.
Results
Another tough stage today…
Stage timing
Stage Rank | Number | Driver | Rally stage time | Time gap to first |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 501 | M.Macik | 3h02m43s | – |
2 | 502 | Janus van Kasteren | +3m25s | |
6 | 511 | Mitchel van den Brink | +25m08s | |
19 | 506 | Martin van den Brink | +2h13m25s |
Stage analytics

Stage tracking
Overall rally competition Trucks
After rally stage 10
Overall Rank | Number | Driver | Rally overall time | Gap to first | Penalty |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 502 | Janus van Kasteren | 49h32m50s | – | +15m00s |
2 | 506 | Martin van den Brink | 50h05m53s | +33m03s | – |
4 | 511 | Mitchel van den Brink | 53h19m30s | +3h46m40s | +1m00s |
X | 504 | Vick Versteijnen | dnf | dnf | – |
Videos
Video by Rallymaniacs
Video by Omroep Brabant
Video by A.S.O.
Video by IVECO coming soon…
Photos
Photos from photographers Rallymaniacs, MMPhoto, Fotop and Ronald Loedeman π