Dakar 2003

Interview with Marc Coma
‘What worries me most is making a mistake’.
  Has everything worked out the way you expected?I expected more difficult dunes, but we were lucky because the sand was quite hard and we made most of the dunes over the cut side. That makes things a lot easier. For the rest, except for the day the gear lever broke, making me loose an hour or so, everything has worked out fine. But there is no need to worry much about the problem I had because its impossible to finish the rally without something happening to you. What I have to do is to look ahead. There arent many stages left, I think that there are only three stages as such left. I have to be very concentrated and avoid making any mistake until the end, because that would be the worst thing, now that weve arrived to where we are.  What is worrying you most of the remaining rally?What worries me most is making a mistake, after everything weve made. Its not that Im under too much pressure, which could force me to make a mistake. I know that I just have to be me, to be prudent and if I have any doubt, shut down the throttle. If I ride the way I have been riding so far there is no reason for anything to happen. The thing is that were in a race and you can always make a mistake. Ill do everything to avoid anything to happen and I guess there will be no problem at all.  How have you integrated yourself in the team?At the beginning I looked a lot at Nani, because he understands this rally very well and hes got a lot of experience. He knows when you have to take your stuff to the plane, when to take it to the car… That helped me a lot. Since hes gone Im trying to do everything by myself and if theres something I dont know I just ask the other KTM riders, who are helping me a lot, especially Cyril Despres, who lives in Andorra and we know each other quite well. Meoni is also a nice guy and of course Gio Sala, hes great.  Are you learning to race reading the road book?Yes, of course I am. Its getting better. On the roads its quite clear to me now. Its easier for me to navigate. What I still dont know is how to do it with the dunes, to make the road-book meet with the middle of the dune. Its more difficult there, its off-road and causes a bit of trouble. But Im getting better every day. I hope to be able to practice a lot this year and have greater ease next year in order not to feel as lost as I did this year in the beginning.  Did you expect to be among the top riders?No, not at all. The surprise came after the first long stage, where I finished seventh and all of the favourites were still there. I was really astonished because I got lost and I wasnt at all agile with the road book. When I arrived at the finish and I saw that I was seventh I was very happy. But, anyway, I havent taken the results into account any day; I just did the best I could, the way I thought was convenient, with regard to the rhythm of the race. The first days in the dunes I used to ride behind another rider to see how to cross them and if I had any doubt I stopped, tried to analyse it and if I didnt find a solution Id just follow another rider. This has been my way to do it and the results are due to the fact that the bike has worked fine and that Im feeling well on the bike. Weve been lucky and havent made any mistakes.  Nani and Isidre are at home now. Is there any message you want to send to them?Well, the message is a sad one, because when we started with the project we were all together and now Im all alone. Im really sorry. Isidre’s retirement was due to technical problems. Thats really bad luck. Nobody deserves what happened to him. And, above all, Nani… I was so scared when I arrived and saw him on the floor, in the middle of the desert. Theres a lot to think about when something like that happens so close to you. But what I have to do is to see for myself, learn something every day. This year Ive had the luck of being here. Maybe some other year its  me who has to go back home earlier.