Nani Roma gets his first stage victory

Posted Jan 17th 2009 6:45AM by Andrew Hopkins
Filed under: Motorsports, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen

On the penultimate day of the Dakar Mitsubishi Ralliart pair Nani Roma & Lucas Cruz, got their first stage victory in the Dakar on the shortened 13th leg of the special between La Rioja and Córdoba. The Spanish pair started the special in 21st position, but climbed steadily to get the first stage victory for Mitsubishi & Repsol in the 2009 Rally Dakar, and confirmed their sixth position in the overall classification.

This is also the first stage victory for Roma with the team, and his first ever victory in the car category. The day will be very emotional for Roma as this evening he will receive a special trophy in the bivouac in Córdoba; the "Henri Magne" to the best co-driver in the Dakar 2009. The deceased Magne was Roma`s co-driver and died in the Rally Morocco 2006.

Volkswagen consolidated its one-two lead with Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz and Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford on the 13th and penultimate leg of the Dakar Rally. On the leg from La Rioja to Córdoba, which had been shortened from 753 to 631 kilometres, the advantage of the two Race Touareg vehicles running in front at the extremely tough desert rally increased yet again, despite a deliberately restrained driving style because their closest rivals, Robby Gordon/Andy Grider, lost 22m49s to the stage winners.

36-year-old Giniel de Villiers is thus ranking in first place overall, 2m20s ahead of Mark Miller. Robby Gordon in third overall is lacking as much as 1h27m to the front runners. With Dieter Depping in seventh place, the third remaining Race Touareg before the final 792-kilometre leg to Buenos Aires is among the top ten of the legendary desert classic that is being staged in South America through Argentina and Chile for the first time and that will end on Sunday with the drive across the official finish ramp.

Tags: Dakar, Mitsubishi, Nani Roma, NaniRoma, Volkswagen, VW