Nani Roma: “One must have dreams and mine was to return to Dakar”

The only Spanish driver who has the pride of winning the Touareg cup in both categories, after his victories in the motorcycle (2004) and automobile (2014) races, faces his most special Dakar after a much more important challenge.

What was your experience watching the 2023 rally on television after completing 26 consecutive editions?

It was a very strange feeling, I didn’t like it. Like it or not, I really miss my career, which is half my life. Every year I spent New Year’s Eve away from home, and this time I felt like a stranger. Later I managed to become a commentator on television, but everything was very strange. Of course, there were more important fronts to fight on at that time. Even though I had finished the treatment and everything was going well, I didn’t feel physically ready, so it was a little easier to understand that I would miss the rally.

Can it be said that he was rescued and started from scratch with new equipment?

The truth is that I went through a very complicated situation that forced me to withdraw. It is true that I had to start from scratch on a physical level. And on a psychological level, cancer made me realize how vulnerable we are. Because I did everything right in life, I trained, I didn’t smoke, I didn’t get drunk… I did the things that society tells you are the right thing to do to be good. But it is not. One day, I went to the doctor thinking I had a kidney stone and got the news of a tumor.

How did you deal with this?

Undoubtedly, this was a completely unexpected blow. Going into the unknown really made me uncomfortable. How can I attack this I keep repeating to myself? That’s why, a little unconsciously, I tried to implement what I did while preparing for the race. I went to the doctors with the notebook in which I wrote down the chances of survival. They were up to their noses against me. Knowing how to turn this all around was complicated. But there is only one way and within the fears you have, your responsibilities, your family… There is no other way but to fight and try to move forward. The doctors thought I was crazy to talk about when I could race again while they were trying to save my life. But I told them that you have to have dreams in life. And I wanted to return to Dakar.

The Ford project was a gift at the best time…

My life has gone through ups and downs in two years. For a moment I thought ‘this is over’. But the Wilson family called me last October. It was cruel that they thought of me without knowing whether I had fully recovered or not. “Are you ok?” they asked me. “Okay, go ahead.” They trusted me and helped me at a very important moment in my sports career. This was uplifting. This also shows the differences between each other; They forget what you did for them. They pay us good money, but the intervention is very cruel. My wife lost her father during the pandemic and I was in England for the Prodrive and BRX project.

Based on your experience, what would you like the current Dakar to be like?

If I could choose, I would love to go back to the old format with very long stages, 800 kilometers, a lot of navigation, such races, marathons requiring mechanical maintenance… but the world is changing and today this is not possible. A 90-minute football match is too long, heading into F1 and MotoGP sprint races… people want the spectacle and the short doses. We’re still romantic.

What kind of target was set in 2024?

We are at the beginning of a new adventure that will get even better with the arrival of the new generation Ford Ranger Raptor in 2025. In today’s car, it’s all about learning, putting in the miles, and gathering all the information we can. For now, we made sure that the team accompanying us understood the rally raid philosophy. Ford doesn’t have a lot of cross-country experience and we will be practicing for a year. Other teams that couldn’t achieve this and thought they would come and win were there for three years and failed to do so. Therefore, this stage is also important.

But in Morocco, she hit the podium at the Dakar dress rehearsal…

Yes, it was very good, but it does not correspond to reality. There is no need to create expectations, we do not have a vehicle suitable for this this year. Audi, Hunter and Toyota are ahead in theory, but something will happen to all of them, we’ll see. We understand the race very well and The Dakar went well for us when it was tough. It will be such that I think we can do very good things, but let’s be cautious in our approach.

What do you think of this year’s tour?

It seems difficult. The first three days, the Empty Quarter area, which is the invention of the 48-hour marathon, we need to see how it will play out on a strategic level. The northern part will be complicated and the penultimate part will be where many people were trapped due to the explosions last year. It will be difficult until the end, but that is the Dakar and the race puts everyone in their place.