The fourth and final day of the Rally Transibérico brought an end to Nani Roma`s first experience in the BMW X3 CC. After 2 260km, with 1 216 of them against the clock, the Repsol driver was able to see for himself the enormous potential that the German car has, a car in which he was able to win two specials and which kept him among the fastest in the rally.
Today`s stage had a special of 160km which, just like on the previous days, were taken twice. After his first pass Roma was second 45 seconds behind Carlos Sousa, in spite of having lost some time overtaking several slower rivals. The Repsol driver started 8th and in spite of the dust passed five cars, demonstrating once again that he had the pace to challenge for a much better result.
On the second special Roma was 4th, 8 minutes 24 seconds behind the winner. But this time the Spaniard chose to help the team out after catching up with Chicherit his teammate and race leader who was having problems. He drove behind him until the end of the special so that he could help him if necessary, but in the end he did not need any and the Frencman drove on to become the eventual winner.
The next date for Nani Roma is the Baja España-Aragón 2009 from 23rd – 26th July.
Nani Roma
“Today`s stage was another difficult and hard-fought one, because I started behind slower cars and it is never comfortable to drive in the dust other car´s kick up. On the first special I passed five cars, and in the end I was 3rd, but being stuck behind other cars meant that I could not fight to win this special and I was 2nd. After that I had to do some team work because I caught Chicherit, who had problems, and I stayed just behind him in case he needed help. After how the whole rally has gone I cannot say that the result is positive, because I think we had the pace to win the race, but on the other hand the overall summary is that it is positive. The sensations I got were very good and I drove comfortably, learning about the car every day and getting to know Michel [Perin], and I am very pleased. From now on we have a good idea of the way to go with our work, and the car has very good potential.”
