Nani Roma/Alex Haro had a great run through the third stage of the 2022 Dakar rally as they built on a strong drive yesterday with fourth on the 255 km stage that looped around Al Qaisumah made up of tracks and dunes, but the majority with sand. Driving their Bahrain Raid Xtreme Prodrive Hunter, the result means the two-time winner of the Dakar now has his sights on moving up the standings over the next two weeks.
Winners from 24 hours earlier, Sebastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin had drivetrain trouble and a puncture over the tough terrain that lost them significant time proving once more how tough the Dakar is. However, the skill of over 25 years of rallying came to the fore as he drove for 250 km with just front wheel drive and remains second in the overall standings to Nasser Al-Attiyah, as the BRX team and the bivouac travels to the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, tomorrow.
In car number 221, Orlando Terranova/Dani Oliveras scored a further top ten finish with their V6 engined, sustainably- fuelled Hunter. The pair had a very positive day following some changes on the car last night and kept their rhythm over the dunes to maintain tenth in the overall standings to make three Hunters inside the top 11.
Nani Roma said:
“It’s been a great day on the stage today as it has brought back the feeling I had when I started Rally Raids as we now have good speed following some lost time earlier in the rally. It’s hard for both of us in the car but it’s part of the sport. There are hard days ahead and so many things can happen before we arrive back to Jeddah so today has proven that things can turn around quickly. I’ve worked so much with the BRX team and in this car right from the beginning and we are happy from the victory the team took yesterday and we must continue in that direction. I know the guys in front and their pace, and I also know Dakar very well (26th start in 2022) as I lost one overall victory just two days before the end when I was leading by 20 minutes on a bike so I know how hard this rally can be and how it can change.”
Orlando Terranova said:
“It was a very nice stage to drive. I start to feel even more confident in the car and I think that tomorrow we can take the next step and take a little bit more risk but today was fun and I am happy as it was fun out there and the navigation was easy compared to opening on the harder stage the other day. The car is very strong because pushing over the bumps plus the differentials and the brakes are working so well so tomorrow we try to jump up a step. We are in the rhythm now we are in the main part of the rally.”
Sebastien Loeb said:
“We broke something in the drivetrain early on in the stage, so we did 250 km without full drive which meant crossing the dunes was really tough. Of course I’m disappointed to lose some time but I am happy to have got to the end of the stage losing only 33 minutes as it could have been worse but those are the cards we’ve been dealt today. We are second overall on the Dakar Rally in the first week; everyone knows how hard this event is so there’s plenty of time to pull things back.”
Gus Beteli said:
“Nani has had a really good run to maintain fourth overall managing to get time back on the overall positions, so he’s 11th now and 30 minutes away from third place so still in contention for a good result. Orlando had another top ten and is tenth overall so going well. Seb had a difficult day with an issue with the propshaft and he ended up with just front wheel drive from early on so that was hard work for him but amazing to bring the car back over soft dunes and lose only half an hour so he’s still second overall and with such a long way to go, all to play for.”