Dakar 2018: Mena takes Hero MotoSports into Dakar Rally top 20 but CS Santosh loses ground due to fuel cap issue

Hero MotoSports Team Rally will be delighted to have a rider in the top 20, that too on their year-old bike, in Oriol Mena. However, CS Santosh lost almost 30 positions due to an improperly fitted rear fuel tank cap that led him to run out of fuel 30kms to the end of the third leg of the Dakar Rally.

He was riding into the overall top 20 of the Dakar Rally after the third leg on his first attempt on a year-old bike. Hero MotoSports Team Rally will most certainly be pleased with signing Oriol Mena into their team. The former enduro champion is currently classified 19th overall with eleven more legs left as well as a rest day.

The 502km leg (with 295km of timed stages) did not go entirely smoothly for the team, however. CS Santosh fell from being classified 28th overall to 56th overall after an issue that seemed as unlikely as it was frustrating. After getting his RR450 refuelled, the bike's rear fuel tank cap was incorrectly fitted and it came off during the stage that ran from Pisco to San Juan de Marcona in Peru.

Eventually this meant Santosh having to cruise to make the remaining fuel last for as long as possible and it was very evident that he was doing so when he came past. Unfortunately, this tactic couldn't get him to the end of the stage, and Santosh ran out of fuel entirely 30kms towards the end of the stage.

He had to wave down the slower riders in the field and get fuel from them in order to make it to the finish and get to the Bivouac, where he no doubt would have been angry at himself for such an oversight.

The good news in all this, however, is that there are eleven more legs left and possible positions to be gained, if the going remains consistent.