Nani Roma has returned to competition, just four months after his bladder operation to remove a cancerous tumor, with a victory at the Rally Ciudad de Granada. The 50-year-old driver from Folgueroles won the last round of the Spanish Dirt Rallies Championship (CERT). A demonstration of his good form and full physical recovery, with a message to his team, the Bahrain Raid Xtrem, which has left him without a car for the 2023 Dakar.
Nani Roma and Àlex Haro, with a Volkswagen Polo Rally2, already won the qualifying timed section on Friday, followed by the Finnish champion Mikko Heikkilä and the Uruguayan Rodrigo Coco Zeballos. The abandonment of the Finn paved the way to victory for the Catalan, who had no rival to win this Saturday on the second day. At the finish line he beat Juan Carlos Quintana (Skoda) by 29.1 seconds and Daniel Alonso (Citroën) by 32.8s.
The Dakarian had not achieved a victory in the CERT since he won the Navarra gravel rallies in 2015 and 2016. His last competition had been in March, at the Lorca Rally. One day after running he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, for which he underwent two operations, the last on June 14.
In the Rally Ciudad de Granada, the title of the Spanish Dirt Rally Championship was settled. Three drivers aspired to the Spanish crown, Juan Carlos Quintana, Daniel Alonso and Álex Villanueva, who ended up taking the title by a single point over Quintana. It is his third dirt championship after those achieved in 2006 and 2016.
