This afternoon the preliminary stage of the latest Baja España Aragón took place, in which Nani Roma drove for the first time in competition at the wheel of the Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0l Turbo. The Repsol driver finished third, a position which he will occupy in the starting order of the first stage tomorrow, behind the Polish driver Krzysztof Holowczyc and Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel, who were only ahead by 1.2 and 0.9 seconds respectively.
It was almost five kilometers against the clock taking place in the area surrounding the complex which, in September, will host the thirteenth Motorcycle World Championships event and, which Roma covered in a time of 4 minutes, 14 seconds and 400 milliseconds. This preliminary stage gave the Repsol driver a very positive first competition experience in the car which he used in the 2009 Dakar, but this time with a petrol engine, supplied and produced exclusively by Repsol.
A fast super special stage of 4.88 kilometers was the aperitif for the classic and demanding rally which, every summer for the last 27 years, has covered the Monegros desert. The hour of truth comes tomorrow with the contest of the first two special stages, of 132 and 177 kilometers, during which Roma should have perfected the connection with his new car to fight for a repeat of the win which he has already achieved six times.
Nani Roma,
“I’m very happy and surprised with today’s result as it’s only the second time I’ve driven the car – which I tested yesterday for the first time -, and everything is very new to me. It behaves very differently to the BMW or the Mitsubishi that I have driven before so I went out without being at all used to the way it handles, but everything went perfectly. To finish third, so close to the top two in a special stage where you go out at a sprint, taking it to the maximum in only a few kilometers, is a very positive result. Tomorrow we will pick up the pace bit by bit and I’m sure we’ll be even better”.
