CS Santosh 23rd overall, Rodrigues 11th for Hero MotoSports at Merzouga Rally

CS Santosh, now riding for brand new Hero MotorSports Team Rally in the Afriquia Merzouga rally, with team-mate Joaquim Rodrigues have successfully competed the opening stage of the rally. The Merzouga rally is taking place in the Moroccan desert where temperatures soar above 40? Celsius.

Rodriguez finished the first day in tenth position in the first stage after making a small error at a checkpoint. Following an impressive and successful prologue, CS Santosh was the first rider to enter the special stage. Santosh suffered issues with navigation during the stage, but managed to place himself 17^th in the end.

Rodriguez said “I´m happy to finish the way I did, it was a good experience. Tomorrow I will try to avoid mistakes and then hopefully make progress throughout the week."

"I was a bit nervous opening the track. But the team told me to go ahead and be confident. I had a good feeling, then I started to make some small mistakes. I finally found someone who handled the navigation very well, that helped me and I brought it home. The rally is very, very tough. It deserves to be part of the Dakar series. You don´t need a crystal ball to see that the next four days will be very challenging." Said Santosh after his first rally outing in the Moroccon desert.

Stage 2 of the Merzouga Rally will be split in to two legs. The western region of Mergouza will host Stage 2 of the rally where competitors will have to navigate through mountainous sections as well.

After the first day of the rally, the preliminary results are as follows:

Stage 1

1st - Stefan Svitko, SVK, KTM 2:48:42 hrs

2nd - Helder Rodrigues, POR, Yamaha +2:04 min

3rd - Adrien van Beveren, FRA, Yamaha +4:18

4th - Ricky Brabec, USA, Honda +4:20

5th - Kevin Benavides, ARG, Honda +4:4

10th - Joaquim Rodrigues, POR, Hero +23:32

17th - CS Santosh, IND, Hero +56:25

Preliminary Overall standings

1st - Svitko 2:52:07 hrs

2nd - Helder Rodrigues +2:04 min

3rd - van Beveren +4:06

4th - Brabec +4:12

5th - Benavides +4:33

11th - Rodrigues +23:38

23rd - CS Santosh +56:44