Spaniard Joan ‘Nani’ Roma and his French co-driver Michel Périn have been forced to retire from the 2010 Dakar Rally as a result of the damage sustained by their BMW X3 CC in an accident between La Rioja and Fiambalá in Argentina on Monday.
According to a Team X-raid GmbH spokesperson, the pair drove over a dune and fell into a large canyon behind the sandy ridge. The car plummeted several metres, rolled during the incident and hit the ground hard with the impact damaging the rear right corner of the BMW. One wheel was also lost in the accident.
The crew arrived at the bivouac in Fiambalá at 22.45hrs (local time) on Monday evening, pulled by one of X-raid’s assistance trucks, but the car was damaged beyond repair. Roma also slightly injured his hand in the incident but, contrary to earlier reports, his hand is not broken.
