Morocco Rally – Nani Roma and his new Ford on the podium: “Let’s stay humble”

Nani Roma made us a Nani Roma. Let's explain. The Spanish pilot has never been a thunderbolt of war. If he won the 2014 Dakar, it was thanks to team instructions at X-Raid prohibiting his teammate Stéphane Peterhansel from overtaking him at the end of the course. But the Catalan compensates for this speed deficit with wisdom and experience of a very high level in rally-raid.

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The 2023 Rally of Morocco was a new demonstration of this. Committed to the new Ford Ranger T1+ co-developed between M-Sport and Neil Woodridge Motorsport (NWM), Nani Roma had no other objective than to finish in the top 10, to accumulate kilometers and data on a still young vehicle.

🥉 we our @OfficialW2RC beginning! 👏 🎉 pic.twitter.com/5IBvCjTOyd

- M-Sport (@MSportLtd) October 18, 2023

His goal was already achieved during the third stage, which he finished in 10th place, 42 minutes behind the leaders at the time, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota). However, two days later, Nani Roma and his co-driver Alex Haro arrived in Merzouga in 3rd place (+43 minutes on Al-Rajhi-Gottschalk)!

How was such a rise possible? Nani Roma has the answer. “I know the rally-raid, he told us, suitcase in hand before leaving the bivouac. On the evening of the third stage, I explained to Matt (Wilson, head of the Dakar program at M-Sport and son of Malcolm Wilson. Editor's note) : ''The last two stages promise to be very difficult. Up front, it's going very fast. For the moment, we don't have the possibility of going so quickly, but we have to believe in it, and slowly we can get there.''

The winner of the Dakar motorcycle in 2004 does not let himself be carried away by this very positive result. “We have to put things into perspective and keep in mind that there are many things to learn. Sometimes a good result tends to erase all the areas that need improvement. Let's remain humble, even if I'm very happy, I'm not going to say the opposite. »

“The team produced a magnificent job this week, despite having never taken part in a round of the W2RC. We all learned a multitude of things. Let's continue like this and not be disturbed by this podium. »