Hero MotoSports Team Rally saw through a tough day to keep the Team’s campaign on-track at the
ongoing Merzouga Rally 2018.
The Second part of the Marathon Stage of the Merzouga Rally 2018 was reduced by the organisers as
most riders lost their way towards the end of the stage in an attempt to find a really tricky waypoint.
Hero MotoCorp Teal Rally’s Oriol Mena started the stage well but just after a few kms, suffered a hard
impact to the bottom of the bike and decided to finish the rest of the stage in a slow and cautious
manner. Towards the end of the stage he lost some more time in trying to find that last waypoint,
along with many other riders.
His teammate, C S Santosh, was having a good stage until he also got lost around the last waypoint.
This cost him a lot of time before finding the correct route.
Both the riders arrived at the bivouac safely to reunite with the team, after the Marathon stage.
Due to a majority of the riders losing their way around this particular waypoint, the organizers
decided to revise the results of Stage 4. With the revised results, Oriol’s ranking in stage 4 was 26 th ,
taking him to the overall standing of 15 th , while Santosh’s revised ranking for Stage 4 was 24 th , taking
him one place up to 19 th place overall at the end of Stage 4.
This second part of the Marathon stage consisted of a 233 km long stage in between two liaison
sections of 63 kms and 103 kms respectively. The riders first encountered the dunes sector, which
then led them to the faster tracks until they reached the Errachidia plateau where a labyrinth of tracks
complicated the navigation.
The final stage of the Rally will be a motocross style start and offer 49 km of fast paced shoulder-to-
shoulder action before the champion is crowned.
Provisional Results for the Stage 4
1. Kevin Benavides Honda Racing 03h 07m 14s
2. Ricky Brabec Honda Racing +12s
3. Juan Garcia Pedrero Sherco TVS +56s
24. C S Santosh Hero MotoSports +26m 57s
26. Oriol Mena Hero MotoSports +36m 17s
Overall Provisional Results at the end of Stage 4
1. Joan Barreda Bort Honda Racing 12h 49m 41s
2. Kevin Benvides
3. Pablo Quintanilla Husqvarna Racing +11m 51s
15. Oriol Mena Hero MotoSports +02h 22m 15s
19. C S Santosh Hero MotoSports +03h 08m 41s
Source : Hero