Nani Roma and Nasser Al-Attiyah The two drivers met in the middle of the desert, meeting for the first time midway through the eighth stage of the Dakar, with numerous overtakes and both losing minutes. nacelle Continuing to lead, Forgerold was in 4th place at 9 minutes 37 seconds, with the difference Nani I believe I can recover in the next two stages (week 9 and day 10), especially those that make up the second marathon stage. The decisive moment of this rally.

Therefore, the meeting they had was Nani Roma and Nasser Al-Attiyah This can be compared to the pre-fight weigh-in between heavyweight boxing fighters. Nani Roma has accepted this comparison before. Doctor of Medicinewhile acknowledging that there was a moment when both cars were very close, explained what happened and downplayed the significance of that duel.

“Well, we ended up saying hello to each other and nothing happened,” he said. “But we were aggressive. Let’s see if we’ll publish the images now, because the boxing match was interesting, like motocross in the middle of the desert. We were both passing each other and seeing who would pass each other. And we were near each other’s cars, but… it was Great motocross round in the middle of the desertIn the end, we both lost in this case, but it was real, and it was even fun,” he said, before elaborating on what the confrontation was like, running forward and dodging the dust emitted by the car. As a result, visibility is very poor and the car behind you cannot accelerate as much.

“We caught him because he was going very slowly, but that’s normal. We got a little lost, so we came back and caught him again. But he’s fine,” Nasser Al-Attiyah told Spanish reporters. “F1 in the desert? No, I just did my best. I didn’t make much time today, but it was a good day thinking about tomorrow,” the Qatari added about the eighth stage.

Nani Roma explains face to face with Al Attiyah

“In reality, he grabbed me and took me away for two minutes. I had Sentinel on (a system that warns the car in front that there’s another car trying to overtake) and it beeped three times. As per the regulations, the car I have to stop and pass. And then he veered a little to the right, and Alex (his co-driver) said to me, ‘We’re too far to the right, we’re too far.’

And he continued. “I thought he was going to turn and turn left at the end of the valley, but he didn’t turn back. And then there was a moment when I turned around and went looking for a road. And when I found it, he saw me and passed me.”

“Then I passed him, then he passed me again, and at the speed limit point I braked later and passed him. and Eventually, the same thing happened to me again. For the guards beat me, and the third time they beat you. By regulation, you have to miss it. ” He concluded the matter by explaining the sequence of events.

“It’s part of the game, it’s part Dakar, it’s part racing, it’s part cross-country, and sometimes it’s finding cars and trying to pass them.”” he said, revealing that no one won that battle.

“In reality, the scuffle was caused by both of us getting lost. I ended up trailing all the way to the finish line. But that’s the reality, it’s part of the sport, it’s part of the Dakar. We lost two minutes this split, and so did Nasser.”

In that sense, I regretted not being able to achieve my goal of getting the best start on stage 9, the first half of the marathon stage. This will be the 9th car to take part in this important special stage.

“I was planning on finishing between 4th and 5th today, so I think I could have started tomorrow, but the way things are now.

he denied that it was a confrontation

“No, because ultimately you both try to pass each other to avoid getting dusted by the other. And sometimes, when one of you is running in front, sometimes you look at the track and pass him, and we got like that, but that’s not the case. It’s part of the race, it’s part of the game, and it was fine with me.”

Similar to the famous fight between Sainz and Nasser in the past

Yes, I don’t know if there are images of the helicopter, but yes, I overdid it. They were pretty legendary, but they’re even cooler because they’re on the sand and you can see a lot more there. There were times today today when I couldn’t see in front of me because there were cars in front of me, and we passed each other a few times, but when it finally happened to me, I was already behind the dust, so I was able to make it to the end.

Do you like F1 racing?

Yes, almost, but there’s dust and you can’t see what’s in front of you. But, well, that was an anecdote from the day that ended up hurting us both and hurting reality.

The battle allowed Sainz to close the gap by several seconds.

Yes, yes, but hey, tomorrow they’re going to come forward, tomorrow they’re hoping to recover, but tomorrow they’re going to lose, so that’s why we’re there. However, I think it will be even more important to do our best during these two days. I think the marathon will be tough and I think things could change by the time we get to Bisha. I believe things will change a little. We believe it will be the closest Dakar in history, with more brands, more cars and more drivers participating. So I believe it will be a very interesting Dakar for the spectators, for the fans and for the people watching it. “I think it’s great to have such close races, I think it’s very interesting and I think it’s very good for racing.”

Is it possible to get Nasser back in time?

Well, I think we can make up for it in these two days, and I hope we can make up for it tomorrow, and if we make up for it tomorrow, we can lose time the day after tomorrow. But I think, like I said before, it’s important to be very consistent. Because I looked at David Castellar in these two marathons and he told me to be careful. And he knows a little bit about the business. That being said, Stage 8 was beautiful, very good, very cool, one of the truly beautiful stages. ”

Marathon stage strategy

“You know what happens? There are moments where you have to go all in. There are times when you manage the strategy… Look, I would feel bad creating a strategy that would be super conservative and conservative and applaud this. I say, ‘Look, it’s what it is, I have to do this, well, let’s try, and we’ll see.’ Here we are full, and tomorrow is more.” ”