The dream of the next Dakar for Nani Roma has just ended, after his team has made it official in a statement that he will not be part of their lineup for the next visit to the desert. After leaving behind a difficult last year in which he was fortunately able to completely overcome the bladder cancer that he was diagnosed with in March, the goal of the Catalan was to arrive on time for the rally and, Despite having “recovered much faster than expected” as the pilot told AS, “the team (Prodrive BRX) He couldn’t take it into account.”
Despite the fact that Nani’s goal from the moment he was completely cured of the tumor in August was to get back in shape as soon as possible to be able to arrive in time to start the Dakar, the time required for his recovery has led the Prodrive BRX to make a decision in which Guerlain Chicherit will replace him at the wheel. That does not mean that the Catalan is disassociated from the structure, because as the statement continues to inform from now on he will work as a test pilot with a view to the Saudi appointment, but that does not know much for a pilot who was completely focused on returning to the desert in the month of January.
Nani took the necessary steps to do so, since he rode again with very good sensations, recently including a test in Morocco, but the English team, for technical reasons, has chosen to do without the Folgueroles team for the mythical raid. Even despite the fact that, as the statement itself emphasizes, during these tests Roma “returned to top speed in a car that he has been so instrumental in during its development.” But even that has not been enough to put him back in the orbit of the competition at a time when there are hardly any chances to find a place in the Dakar caravan.
“Right now, there are no cars”
“Right now there are no cars and it is very difficult to prepare a project and a new car with the time remaining for the Dakar, that is the reality. Before going to the Dakar I had to have done Morocco or Andalusia but all the cars are occupied and there are no more”, says Nani himself, about what requires a preparation in which his absence in Morocco was surprising in the first instance (from 1 to October 6), scenario par excellence to prepare the mythical raid.
However, now that absence makes sense due to the decision of a team like Prodrive BRX, for which “it was too late in the calendar for Nani to have a car in the next Dakar”, although the driver was totally willing thereto: “I felt very good in the tests, quite fit although I’m not one hundred percent because I still need to recover my muscle tone, but with the three months remaining for the Dakar I could do it”. Rome looked within the deadlines, but unfortunately It will be “stay home” after 27 years. The plan from now? “Look at the race from another point of view and next year start again. I have a contract with BRX until 2023 and we will see what we start to do.” For now, think about the next…
