“Nasser didn’t make any mistakes”

Dakar 2019 | Stage 10 | Pisco > Lima
January 17 ^th 2019 - 12:53 [GMT -5]

The Spanish driver, a winner on a bike in 2004 and then in a car in 2014, returned to the podium on the Dakar, in 2nd position, 46 minutes behind Nasser Al-Attiyah.

“We are happy. It was a tough race, with a lot of stress every day. It wasn’t easy. We didn’t even have one second just to be a little bit relaxed. But I’m happy to be here and happy to finish second. For us, it’s ok. We planned a strategy for the race and followed the strategy all the time. Also, the last five days it was very tough for my co-pilot: he has two cracked ribs and he suffered a lot. It was so good, from the car, from the Mini, from the team. It's not such a perfect year for our team, but this is quite nice, this feeling again, to be on the podium and fight with the big guys. The value of the results is the value of the big guys that you fight. I mean, sometimes you win the race, but you don’t have any fight with anyone and it doesn’t have the same value as when you fight with Nasser, with Loeb, Carlos or Peterhansel. This is a really good feeling. Nasser didn’t make any mistakes. He won the race and there’s nothing to say, only congratulations. But for the future, every race is different. This type of rally, this type of race, it’s for him: dunes, sand, open desert… he drove very well”.