“It’s not Dakar if you don’t push your limits!”
CREW FACTS
R.v.L.
- Ronald has followed the Dakar since his childhood because Gerard de Rooy lives a few streets away from his house. “So everyone in my village is born with the Dakar bug!” Him especially. Let’s say that a big part of Ronald's life is about cars. When he's not driving, he works as an entrepreneur buying and selling vehicles.
- A methodical driver, the Dutchman did a lot of preparation before taking on the Dakar. He has contested several races in Africa (Carta Rally, Morocco Desert Challenge, Tunisia Desert Challenge…) and Europe (Baja Portalegre 500, Rallye Breslau Poland...). He went to the 2022 edition as an observer, before taking the step up to competitor in 2023.
- Ronald struggled with his T1 two years ago, being classified out of the race due to technical problems, even though he completed the entire route. He didn't take part in 2024 because his daughter was born on January. He's back with a new T1+ from Red-Lined, still accompanied by his co-driver Erik Lemmen, with whom he has been progressing for almost ten years.
E.L.
- Erik has always watched the Dakar, inspired by some famous Dutch truck drivers. His passion led him to do electronics work for a rally team. That's where he met Ronald, with whom he started racing in rally raid almost a decade ago.
- The Dutch team took a lot of experience by doing some rallies, including the Carta Rally, which it won in 2018. Erik finally realised his childhood dream of taking part in the Dakar in 2023. A great experience, even if technical problems prevented him from bringing home the finisher's medal.
- Erik knows everything there is to know about car software and electronics, because that's his business! His technical skills sometimes enable him to save situations during the race, when there are problems related to electronics. This makes him complementary to Ronald, who is more at ease with mechanics.
2025 AMBITION
R.v.L.: “Dakar 2024 was a tough one because we drove a T1 car on T1+ roads. I drove all the kilometers but out of the official race because of a technical issue, so this year we want to get the medal! We’re coming back with the new T1+ from Red-Line. It’s incredible how fast you can go on the rocks with the car. It will be a different game. I want to finish the race, and be around the Top 30 would be good. We want to push our limits; if not, then it’s not Dakar! I want to drive fast, not be there just to drive and be slow. We bring a lot of parts in our car, and we’ll try to fix everything we have to fix during the race. We go in full Dakar spirit!”
E.L.: “Our first experience was nice… and tough! Driving a T1 car was quite painful on stage 2, we broke the rear suspension, we fixed it but unfortunately it puts us out of the official competition. We moved to T1+, we’re now driving with big wheels so we should have less issues. The goal is to finish the race and be in a nice position. We’re not gonna drive for Top 10, but being among the fastest privateers would be nice. We are very well prepared and with a new car, so everything is here to have a good finishing position if we are not unfortunate. Out of the car Ronald and I are very different characters. Ronald is an entrepreneur and I'm a very technical guy. Completely different skills. But we have very good relationship. Zero arguments. We are both very focused on what we are doing, Ronald on driving, me on navigating. It’s always a dream to compete, so I’m very happy to have this new opportunity!”
