Hero MotoSports Team Rally's two riders continued to stay in the overall top twenty of the Merzouga Rally in Morocco after the penultimate stage of the cross-country rally yesterday, although India's CS Santosh was left rueing a costly navigation error that kept from advancing further up the overall standings.
Joaquim Rodrigues now finds himself ninth overall after being classified 12th in stage four. However, navigation errors similar to the ones that hampered Santosh's progress in the beginning of the rally meant that the Bangalore native could only manage 23rd in the penultimate stage of the rally that concludes today.
Roadbook navigation, far different from the GPS assisted cross-country events held in India, requires intense preparation and a lot of trust, two things that Santosh has admitted to have had issues with during his brief spell in international cross-country rallying that started in 2013 and has included taking part in the Dakar Rally twice.
"Yesterday was extremely tough," said Santosh. "The organisers had told us it was going to be demanding and it was for sure. They cut things short because of the weather, which was the right decision. This morning I started well, but I made a mistake in the navigation. That cost me a lot of time. Overall I´m happy to be back at the main bivouac. The bike is fantastic, no problems at all. Now looking forward to the final stage."
While Santosh came to grips with the challenges of the North African desert event, Rodrigues' performance meant that Hero MotoCorp's foray into motorsport via cross-country rallying was given an encouraging start.
"My first ever (two-day) marathon stage didn´t start that great," said Rodrigues. "I got lost too many times on Wednesday and had a crash. My navigation device broke and that was really bad. Luckily I found a fellow rider and followed him to the bivouac. I managed to fix the bike and started today alright. I was trying to catch the riders in front of me and got a little lost. Still it was a pretty good ride, happy to have finished this new challenge. Tomorrow we will end the rally with a format that should suit me. I´ll give it my best one more time."
Today´s closing stage five offers a special test of 74 kilometres in length. The top riders will be sent into the desert with a Le Mans-style start procedure. The race will be completed after six days and 1,500 km in the town of Erfoud around noon local time.
Provisional Results Stage 4
1. Kevin Benavides, ARG, Honda 2:19:35 hrs
2. Gerard Farres Guell, SPA, KTM +6:18 min
3. Stefan Svitko, SVK, KTM +6:48
4. Adrien van Beveren, FRA, Yamaha +8:11
5. Ricky Brabec, USA, Yamaha +13:48
12. Joaquim Rodrigues, POR, Hero +39:49
23. CS Santosh, IND, Hero +1:02:14
Provisional Overall Standings
1. Benavides 13:39:30 hrs
2. Svitko +3:05 min
3. van Beveren +11:36
4. Farres Guell +12:09
5. Helder Rodrigues, POR, Yamaha +12:53
9. Joaquim Rodrigues +2:45:24
19. CS Santosh
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