For Hero Motorsports Team Rally, it was a day of mixed fortunes at the Atacama Rally. Oriol Mena started strong and was aggressive throughout the stage and despite losing some time towards the end of the stage, he managed to retain his 10th place in the provisional standings.
For Joaquim Rodrigues, it turned out to be a short day as a technical snag with his bike made him stop around the halfway point in the Stage. He will be eligible to start again in the next Stage.
Stage 3 of the Atacama Rally was also marred by a long delay as the morning fog continued to play spoilsport for the rally for the second consecutive day.
At the end of the Stage 3, Oriol is placed 13th in the overall standings.
Today's special stage ran for a total of 260 km with almost half of it (about 120 kilometres) run completely in the dunes. The remainder of the Stage offered a mix of off piste and some more of dunes.
Tomorrow, the rally will move on to the Stage 4 with another 250 kilometres to be done before the final Stage.
After the Stage, Mena said, "It was a really fast stage today and not very technical in the dunes so I was able to ride with more comfort. I started at a good position with a few riders ahead of me so it was a good place to start. I am happy with my overall day so one more day down and just two more to go."
Rodrigues mentioned the issue that forced him to stop midway through, saying, "I had a good start to the Stage but just as I entered the Stage, I had some technical issue with the bike. To keep it safe I decided to stop and not push it further. The team is already on it and hopefully we can start again tomorrow."
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