Nani Roma saves second place and Dakar podium with the horn thanks to Laia Sanz

Nani Roma suffered a major blow 500 meters from the final finish line of the 12th stage of Dakar 2026, but was ultimately able to reach the end of the special race. Even though it has to be done with The front right wheel is completely twisted, the rim touching the ground and out of position.

after that, Dumas, also a Ford driver, helped Nani’s co-driver Alex Haro repair the damage to his watch. Because Nani Roma had to Observe the maximum time to reach the camp If you don’t want to be 1 minute penalty for every minute over 1 minute. There was no delay. Second place was in jeopardy. He had an overall lead of 8 minutes and 19 seconds over Ekström. Loeb is fourth, a few seconds behind the Swede, so if he arrived nine minutes late he would lose second place and possibly miss out on the podium. If I had arrived 10 minutes late I would have missed out on the podium.

Nani was required to arrive at the bivouac’s final administration time by 4:47 p.m. local time (2:47 p.m. Spanish Peninsula Time) That was to stop him from starting to count penalties every minute, which could cost him second place or a podium spot by the final stage this Saturday.

But after that big scare, Nani’s problems didn’t end there. By the time we arrived overland 7 kilometers from the camp checkpoint, we ran out of gas. Nani did not hesitate as he had just passed Laia Sanz. He told the Spanish press present at the bivouac, some of whom were MDs, that he had opened the car door so that Lai Roviera could be seen and stood with the body outside. I needed your help. Desperately.

And then the savior Ebro appeared. Laia Sanz and Maurizio Guerini. The Catalans towed Nani until they reached the camp.. Finally The penalty he received was only one minute. Maintained 2nd place overall. “I said yesterday that miracles don’t exist,” he told MD. “Yes, yes, they exist. It was incredible. Very bestial. Logically, we should not have arrived today.”

The stage was full of stones. “The risk of a puncture was high,” Sainz said as he reached the finish line. Meanwhile, bike rider Tosha Chalayna pointed out that on stages like this you have to push and those in front of you are “risking their lives”. The hardness of the stone area explains what happened to the Catalan player. The Catalans managed to get their car to the finish line and then defended their runner-up position by allowing enough time to repair the car and make the final connection on the road.