Kees Koolen will continue to work with MM Technology for the Rallye du Maroc as the driver of their new IVECO PowerStar EVO 4 truck. Keeping in line with team boss Martin Macík Jr.‘s pattern of naming his trucks, Koolen’s EVO 4 is called “Tony”.
“Together with Benny, we are currently taking it to Morocco, where we will put it through its first real test in the desert,” reads a team statement.
Koolen won the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship in the Truck category in 2022 ahead of Macík, driving an IVECO from MM under the Project 2030 banner and called “Nicias”. Three of his fourteen Dakar Rally starts have also come in a truck in 2014, 2022, and 2023, including the last two with Nicias.
While successful in the large warhorses, the Dutchman typically races a side-by-side in the Challenger or SSV categories. He scored a sixth at the 2021 Dakar in SSV with a Can-Am Maverick, and was due to drive an OT3 in Challenger for the 2024 edition when he was called away by other obligations. Kris Meeke took over his car and won the Prologue before crashing out halfway.
In February, he made his W2RC début on a bike at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, where he was twenty-eighth in Rally2 with a best run of twelfth in Stage #3.
Outside of racing, Koolen is the owner of Koolen Industries, a green energy solutions business in the Netherlands that oversees Project 2030. Its subsidiaries have struggled financially in recent times, with multiple child companies going bankrupt, though it currently remains active. In fact, Tony’s primary sponsor Super B is a Koolen subsidiary.
His son Niels Koolen has raced in series like Formula 2, European Le Mans, and Indy NXT.
The MM EVO 4 was unveiled last Tuesday. Tony is the third piece from the series to be produced after Macík’s “Benny the Big Guy” and another IVECO to be piloted by Mitchel van den Brink. Macík is the defending Dakar Truck winner.
Koolen will have Daniel Kozlovsky and Wouter de Graaff as his navigator and mechanic, respectively.
Tony will race alongside Benny at the Rallye du Maroc on 6–11 October.
