Dakar | M-Sport, technical knockout. Rome: “It's a feeling I hate”

Nani Roma's 2024 Dakar ended prematurely, when he was facing the second week of the race in Saudi Arabia after a day of rest. The Spaniard was just outside the top ten in the overall standings, but a mechanical failure on his Ford forced him to retire on his return to a competition he loves dearly.

After the unfortunate accident that forced him to say goodbye, he spoke to the media at the Al Duwadimi bivouac and said having to leave is a feeling he hates, but “it's part of the game” in the sport. The athlete from Folgueroles said that it was “unpleasant”, although he hopes to continue after returning to the Dakar Experience.

“I will tell you in a little while and we will know the information, but it is clear that it is a very serious problem with the engine, because otherwise we would not be here, I assure you,” said the Catalan driver.

“The only solution is to change the engine to continue, and that's what we will do for tomorrow, continue and learn, do kilometers and finish this Dakar, in another way, but we hope to finish it.”

“I feel an unpleasant feeling. It's a feeling that I really hate, this feeling when something happens to you, which fortunately or unfortunately has already happened to me in the past,” explained Nani Roma. “Now, when I was entering the bivouac here, it was very unpleasant, but it's part of the game, of this sport, it's what it has and you have to accept it.”

“With many years of races of this type, you learn to accept it. It's a bit sad for the team because my teammate also overturned, it's a bad day for us, but it's part of the game, of the Dakar and of racing, although in life, I assure you, there are much more important things”, he said with great composure.

The Spaniard also took stock of the first week, and recalled that being present in the field to run was already a triumph after his illness: “For me it was a very positive first week. As you I said from the beginning, everything that would come from that moment on would be a bonus, it's a victory, something beautiful even if there are situations like this.”

“I think we had a very solid, very complex race. I assure you that some situations were not easy,” he continued. “The team learned a lot and I think we will evaluate this year a lot in the future. The intelligence of the team to come here with a project like this to learn is not easy to find nowadays.”

“You have to highly evaluate the effort of Ford Performance and M-Sport, such a positive and happy balance,” expressed the Catalan. “This unpleasant feeling that makes me very angry and I don't like it at all is part of the game. Life in moments and the Dakar, as you all know, is very hard and puts you in crisis in a minute. That's what happened today” .