CS Santosh improves to 18th overall after day two of Merzouga Rally

The second day of the Afriquia Merzouga rally has concluded with Hero MotoSport Team Rally and CS Santosh managing to end the day on a high-note as the Indian moved into the top twenty in the provisional overall standings. His teammate Joaquim Rodriguez – managed to retain 11^th spot in overall standings by finishing 10^th in the stage 2.

Stage two comprised of two stretches. This meant riders had to cover 340km in total during the day. Before the second stage, Rodriguez was handed a 30-minute penalty on day 1 evening after missing a waypoint during stage one. Despite that Rodriguez managed to finish 10^th on day 2.

"It was better than yesterday," said Rodrigues. "I didn´t really get lost and finished the race pretty good. I´m happy because with each stage I understand better how this rally thing works. Now it´s about learning more and more and place my Hero well in the standings."

Santosh finished the second stage in 21^st spot, however, in the overall standings he’s now 18^th – an improvement of 5 positions from the day before. "Today was one of the longest days of the rally," said Santosh. "My navigation was good in the dunes. I paid close attention to the road-book and that went alright. I got a little lost on two occasions, but the overall feeling remains very positive," he added.

Stage three, which is currently underway, is the first part of the marathon stage. Riders will be carrying out basic servicing of their motorcycles all by themselves in this stage.

Stefan Svitko of KTM is currently leading the rally, followed by his teammate Gerard Guell in 2^nd spot and Yamaha’s Adrien van Beveren in 3^rd.

Stage 2

1. Gerard Farres Guell, SPA, KTM 4:51:45 hrs
2. Adrien van Beveren, FRA, Yamaha +1:18 min
3. Stefan Svitko, SVK, KTM +1:33
4. Kevin Benavides, ARG, Honda +2:25
5. Helder Rodrigues, POR, Yamaha +4:19
6. Joaquim Rodrigues, POR, Hero +26:35
7. CS Santosh, IND, Hero +49:59

Preliminary Overall standings

1. Svitko 7:45:25 hrs
2. Farres Guell +3:37 min
3. van Beveren +3:51
4. Helder Rodrigues +4:50
5. Benavides +5:25
6. Joaquim Rodrigues +1:18:40
7. CS Santosh +1:45:10