BAJA ESPANA: THREE-CAR ENTRY RESULTS IN 2ND PLACE
Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart continued its 2008 cross-country program with a three-car line-up for the Baja Espana. They traveled to Spain with the objective of repeating its one-two finishes on the Baja Espana in 2005 and 2007, although Team Director Dominique Serieys was expecting some stiff opposition. He explains: "We go to Zaragoza with two main objectives. The first is to keep our drivers and co-drivers match fit in readiness for the challenge of the 2009 Dakar. Our other aim is to continue the development of the diesel-engined Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution MPR14, which showed significant promise on the recent Rali Transiberico.”
“The pace of the Baja is faster than that of the Transiberico, but I think the MPR14 is capable of another top performance. That obviously won't stop me trying to win with the petrol-engined car, although it won't be easy because there's a strong entry, including Luc Alphand of course. It's an event I know well, though: I won it four times on two wheels and then once, in 2005, with Mitsubishi. It's also very close to my home, so I am hoping for a good run again this year", said Nani Roma.
The Zaragoza-based baja celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Today's Baja Espana shares a certain number of similarities with the Transiberico, although the stages in the Zaragoza region tend to be faster on the whole. The weather is generally much hotter and drier too. The four-day event has traded Madrid as start venue, on July 17th, for the small town of Alcaniz. Scrutineering and a short spectator stage (3.00km) were held in Alcaniz before the event moved on to Zaragoza for three action-packed days, divided into seven further stages, including two attempts at the 2.50km Colin McRae Memorial spectator stage.
In the end it saw Nani Roma complete his home event in the medals for the third time in three participations. Along with his co-driver Lucas Cruz, he emerged as the biggest threat to early leader Nasser Al-Attiyah, doing all they could to keep up the pressure all the way to the finish. But they lost ground with two punctures on the first full day of competition, and were then hampered to strike back by hanging dust on Saturday morning.
Luc Alphand/Gilles Picard and their MPR13 figured in the top-three behind Roma for much of the event but were squeezed off the podium near the finish of Friday's final stage after shattering the two left-hand side wheels against a rock. The next morning saw them bounce back to within less than a minute of third place but his run was ultimately halted by a transmission problem on Saturday afternoon.
"It's been a very tough event and a difficult weekend for all the team," declared Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart Director Dominique Serieys. "We did our absolute best, but we faced several problems which prevented us from showing our true potential in terms of outright performance." "I suppose second overall is better than not finishing at all,” said Roma, “but we are a team that competes to win, so the way this year's Baja Espana unfolded was particularly frustrating; especially when you see all the effort and risks you take to gain time over the twisty sections wasted as soon as the terrain gets faster. But OK, we've got lots of encouraging developments coming up for the future and, despite my natural disappointment today, that is a very exciting prospect."
