The third stage of the Rally Transibérico showed two sides of the coin to Nani Roma again. The Repsol driver showed his driving talents again today, winning the first pass through today`s special of 213km. But after 90km of the second part, and just 10 seconds behind Guerlain Chicherit, mechanical problems forced him to go directly to the assistance park, this means that he can participate in the final day of the race with the car in good shape.
On a special that was faster than those on the two previous days, the Repsol driver showed the great form he is in, finishing in first position on the first of today`s two scheduled passes on a route covering 213 kilometres against the clock. Roma was 4th after the first CP (Control Pass), 27 seconds behind Filipe Campos, but he got better as the day went on and he ended up the winner with an advantage of over a minute and a half over Guerlain Chicherit.
Two hours later, the cars returned to the start of the special to do it a second time. Roma started at a very high pace again, that was until kilometre 40 when a rear shock-absorber broke. Even so at the first CP he was 2nd, 10 seconds behind Chicherit, but his car had become very unstable and on a fast curve lost control of the car and he went off the track. He took over 15 minutes to get it back on the road but with the car damaged and having to drive in the dust of the cars that had overtaken him he preferred to go directly to the assistance park and so be able to drive in tomorrow`s final stage with the car having had a service.
Nani Roma,
“From the beginning we knew this was going to be a tough rally, we came here to work hard in a car that we do not know, and this is how it is turning out. The car has great potential, I am very pleased with its characteristics, and so I was able to win the first special. But some things still have to be improved and that is what we are working on, so when the shock-absorber broke and then later I went off the track there was no reason to swallow the dust kicked up by the others. The car had become very unstable, and you could not get any information out of it that could be useful in the future. Tomorrow we will take advatage to get some kilometres under the belt and continue learning, because I think we still have a lot of progress to make.”