The Hero MotoCorp Team Rally overcame several challenges to successfully finish Stage 2 at the Atacama Rally. What promised to be the longest stage of the day was delayed by almost three hours due to foggy conditions and poor visibility in the morning. Further, the stage by about 73km to avoid some riders arriving after sunset.
Both the riders of Hero MotoSports Team Rally kept their cool and rode with caution to finish the stage 2 successfully. Oriol Mena had a particularly strong run today as he managed to finish ahead of several riders who had started in front of him. Today's gain saw him finish the stage at 10th place. Joaquim Rodrigues too had a solid run and finished 15th.
After the second stage, Mena and Rodrigues are strongly placed 13th and 14th respectively in the overall rankings.
Today's special stage ran for a total of 303km after being reduced from an original run of 376km. The race challenged the riders with a mix of hard pack and rocky-mountains making it fast but extremely technical to run.
Tomorrow, the rally will move on to the third stage with another 260 kilometres to be done on the clock.
After the second stage, Rodrigues (competitor #16) said, "It was a good stage, really fast. The trial sections in the first half of the stage had a lot of rocks and it wasn’t too good for my back and the second part was even faster. I still don't have that much speed in me to go full gas all the time, so decided to take it easy and get myself back to the bivouac. The bike is working pretty good, so I am happy with my overall performance so far."
Competitor #14 Mena expressed his satisfaction after finishing a challenging stage, "It was a really fast and good stage for me. The piste zone and enduro style trial sections right up to the refuel point were very fast and technical. I had a great run today but tomorrow is a new day which I am sure will give more opportunities to me to do even better."
Provisional rankings for Stage 2
Provisional overall rankings after Stage 2
