Hero MotoSports Leads Pan Africa Rally at end of Stage 2

Kicking off in Merzouga, Stage 1 of The Pan Africa Rally presented a mixed terrain with sand, lose gravel and hard pack, offering great sand riding experience.

Rodrigues made a solid run to arrive at the finish line and break into the top-3 and mentioned that it was beneficial for him to open the stage and is looking forward to the next round. (File Photo)

Hero MotoSports Team Rally, on Tuesday, further improved its position in the ongoing Pan Africa Rally 2019, with team rider Joaquim Rodrigues claiming victory in Stage 2 of the Rally.

The shortened stage, of 145km, saw the Rodrigues blaze through the first half of the stage to bring in another stage win for his team. Rodrigues is currently placed at the top of the rankings in the overall standings and his teammate is C. S. Santosh is placed in the tenth position in the overall rankings.

Rodrigues said: “(It was) a very good day for me today. I started pushing ahead right from the beginning and tried to catch the guys in front of me. But by then the dust was really terrible, making it difficult to see anything. I managed to pass two of the riders in front of me and arrived at the refuelling point in the 2nd place. Too bad that they had to cancel the second part because of some technical problems, but for me it means that I get a good win for my team.”

Santosh also continued with his solid run and finished stage two in 11th place, enabling him to maintain his top-10 spot in the overall rankings.

“Yesterday, when we were working on the road books, it looked like a long and fast stage. It started that way but was shortened to 145 kms by the organisers. I made a few mistakes in the beginning and after that just concentrated on following the road book right to the end. So overall not a bad day as I got my bike to the finish line and will build it from here over the next couple of stages,” Santosh said after the stage.

Stage 3 of the Rally will challenge the competitors with the longest test yet with 450 kms of riding under the clock. The results of this stage will have a definitive influence on the final standings.

Provisional Results of the Stage 2   1.     Joaquim Rodrigues     Hero MotoSports                       01h 43m 48s 2.     Adrien Metge                  TVS Sherco Factory Team          +01m 54s 3.     Lorenzo Santolino         TVS Sherco Factory Team          +04m 00s 4.     Sebastian Buhler            Team Buhler                                  +04m 40s 11.   C S Santosh                     Hero MotoSports                       +16m 05s   Provisional Overall Results at the end of Stage 2 1.     Joaquim Rodrigues     Hero MotoSports                       05h 57m 46s 2.     Lorenzo Santolino         TVS Sherco Factory Team          +01m 17s 3.     Adrien Metge                  TVS Sherco Factory Team          +01m 58s 4.     Michael Metge                TVS Sherco Factory Team          +05m 37s 10.   C S Santosh                     Hero MotoSports                       +32m 42s