Dakar Stage 3: Mena finishes eighth
MOQUEGUA (PERU) : At the start of the third day of Dakar 2019 in the coastal town of San Juan de Marcona, rallyists knew they had a long day ahead, covering a distance of 798 km to Arequipa – the second-longest stretch of the rally raid.
However, competitors, irrespective of their categories, were in for a shock as they had to endure much more than sand dunes — which has consisted around 80 percent of their journey. The third stage turned out to be a tricky mix of dunes, rocks, mountains, and dust finer than sand, which can also act as quicksand. But then this is Dakar, the world’s toughest and most prestigious rally.
HEAVY FOG
As the rally headed to the hill city of Arequipa, Peru’s second largest town after capital Lima, competitors had to make their way through heavy fog, reducing visibility and slowing them down. The stage turned the rally upside down with many top contenders on bikes and cars, losing way.
Hero Motosports Team Rally’s CS Santosh and Joaquim Rodrigues met with time setbacks during the 331-km Special Stage. While Portugal’s Rodrigues lost time at the start and then at a tricky waypoint, India’s Santosh met with a few crashes and also lost time around the same waypoint. Still, both fought their way to the finish line.
Santosh, the only Indian to complete the Dakar multiple times, clocked 6:05.39sec to finish the stage in 64th position. Due to his previous good starts, his overall position is 42nd out of 124 bikers, with 25 withdrawing due to various reasons.
DIFFICULT STAGE
“It was an extremely difficult stage, throwing a fair share of challenges. I had the wrong lens on for today’s (Thursday) stage and it set me up for the struggle for most of the first part. So I decided to ride without goggles, which was difficult,” said Santosh.
“I had a few crashes, lost my way around a waypoint, so in all a tough day. I am glad to have seen the back of it and still be in the race.”
Santosh’s teammate Oriol Mena seemed comfortable where others faltered. The Spaniard, ‘Rookie of Dakar 2018’, showed skill to gain places and finished the third stage a strong 8th (4:18.57sec) and overall 12th. Rodrigues was 46th and is 31st overall.
India’s second rider, KP Aravind, would want to forget Wednesday.
A six-minute time penalty saw him drop to 81st (6:19.04sec) without which the 33-year-old would have earned a spot in the early 70s.
Aiming to be third-time lucky, Aravind is eyeing a finish at the 41st edition of Dakar, which is being held exclusively in Peru.
The Indian is overall 61st with the group being led by Chilean Pablo Quintanilla, who has an advantage of more than 11 minutes in first position.
The rally will now move to the marathon stage for the fourth and fifth days where no assistance is allowed overnight and competitors will rely on devices and faculties to manage their vehicles and themselves.