Nani Roma believes his Toyota Hilux is unable to match the performances levels of those driving Peugeot 3008DKR’s during this years Dakar Rally whilst the stages are run at high altitude.
Roma is currently fourth in the standings, 5 minutes and 35 seconds down on rally leader Stephane Peterhansel, with the leading trio – Peterhansel, Sebastien Loeb and Cyril Despres – all running with Peugeot, but the Spanish racer, the 2014 winner of the Dakar Rally, believes that Toyota are not at the level of the French outfit.
The Toyota driver feels they should be more competitive when at sea level, but with two more stages at altitude he will struggle to stay with the Peugeot’s ahead of him.
“I realised it was impossible [to beat them] on speed, as Stephane passed me in a flat area,” said Roma to Motorsport.com. “In high altitude, on speed [alone], it’s impossible. At sea level, we’re competing – but in this place, [it’s] impossible.
“We cannot follow this engine, this car. The problem is that we have [two] more days at high altitude. But we try to manage.
“The race is not finished, it’s a long way to Buenos Aires. We saw these five days what happened to everybody – and we continue.”
