FIA rectifies: lifts sanctions from Nani Roma and returns stage win

Good news for Nani Roma. The Catalan Ford driver recovered the 1 minute 10 second penalty imposed at the end of Stage 5, the second half of the marathon stage, and consolidated his position in third place in the overall standings.

The penalty cost him the stage win, which went to Ford teammate Mitch Guthrie. By making up for lost time, Roma improved Dakar leader Nasser Al-Attiyah’s time in the first week, Maintained 3rd place in just 8 minutes 3 seconds of Qatar.

The time was set back because stewards inspected the car’s tablet, which is used to measure speed every 150 metres. My main tablet broke down and I went to Rome. His co-pilot Alex Haro used a second tablet.. However, heThe organization was inspecting the main tablet, which was damaged when it recorded an excessive speed.

“The two GPS units are independent and do not start the 150-metre speed enforcement segment at exactly the same time. Analyzing the track at half-second intervals, excessive speeds were indeed observed, but were not recorded as they were not within 150 meters of the previous enforcement point,” a statement released by the FIA ​​detailed.

In addition to reducing his time from the lead, Nani is now able to grab a little more air compared to his rivals who are able to snatch a podium spot. Without going any further, his companions Carlos Sainzjust behind him in the overall standings 3 minutes 46 seconds. Another Ford, in this case Matthias Ekström, is in fifth place, 4 minutes and 8 seconds behind Folgerol.