Dakar Rally 2017: 'Utter mayhem' on third stage as Indians have tough day

Descriptions from those in South America about yesterday's third stage of the Dakar Rally invariably included the words 'utter mayhem'. The

By autoX Editorial | on January 5, 2017 Follow us on Autox Google News



Honda\'s Joan Barreda Bort has assumed the lead of the bike class. (PHOTO: DPPI)



Bort climbed up the order on a day when navigation was a challenge. (PHOTO: DPPI)



Toby Price slipped from the lead to fifth overall. (PHOTO: Red Bull Content Pool)



Joaquim Rodrigues is 20th overall on his Hero-Speedbrain. (PHOTO: Hero MotoSport)



CS Santosh had a rough day, dropping down to 87th overall. (PHOTO: Hero MotoSport)



Sherco-TVS\' Aravind KP is sadly out of the rally due to injury after a crash. (PHOTO: TVS)

Descriptions from those in South America about yesterday's third stage of the Dakar Rally invariably included the words 'utter mayhem'. The navigational challenges of the 364km timed section - part of the 780km total distance from San Miguel de Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy - were the main cause of it, especially within the first 70km of the stage itself.

Riders getting lost on their way through the five waypoints was a regular occurrence and even last year's bike class winner Toby Price of KTM fell victim to it, causing him to lose the overall lead of the rally as Honda's Joan Barreda Bort assumed the lead. Price fell down to fifth overall behind KTM's Sam Sunderland, Honda's Paulo Goncalves and Husqvarna's Pablo Quintanilla.

Sherco-TVS' Juan Pedrero Garcia dropped five more places in the overall standings to place 14th with Hero MotoSport's Joaquim Rodrigues gaining two spots - despite getting lost as well - to climb to 20th overall on his Hero-Speedbrain bike.

TOUGH OUTING FOR THE INDIANS
The Indian riders, however, endured a tough day. According to Evo India's Sirish Chandran, Dakar Rally debutant Aravind KP is out of the event after suffering a huge crash in the early part of the timed section that resulted in a broken shoulder. The injury is believed to be too severe for the Sherco-TVS to continue but he is believed to have not suffered any injuries beyond that.

Aravind's debut was far more eventful than he would have hoped for. He was already riding with a broken left hand as a result of a crash involving a slower rider on the opening stage of the rally and had to tow his teammate Adrian Metge on the second stage.

Hero MotoSport's CS Santosh also endured a difficult outing, facing navigation issues including missing a way point. On top of a penalty of 20 minutes, missing the way point added an additional one hour penalty that dropped Santosh down to 87th overall

"As soon as the stage started, the navigation began and it was really hard right from the first kilometres," said Santosh. "The track went through the riverbed and the surface was very soft and just to find the exit was really tough. It looked like I was doing the wrong thing and found myself in some very difficult places. I also crashed a few times that upset my whole rhythm and after that I was just trying to manage the remaining race. It was a really difficult and a long day"

ONWARDS TO BOLIVIA
Today the field will head towards Bolivia for the first time on a day when there are very liason sections and almost exclusively timed section. A total of 521km have to be covered from which 416km are timed as the route takes the Dakar Rally contingent from San Salvador de Jujuy to Tupizia.

Tags: Dakar Rally CS Santosh Hero MotoSports Team Rally Sherco-TVS Dakar Rally 2017 Hero-Speedbrain Juan Pedrero Garcia Joaquim Rodrigues Toby Price Joan Barreda Bort

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