Dakar 2018 Stage 7 And Stage 8 Results

Jan 15, 2018
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Oriol Mena delivers another top 15 stage position after stage 8, while Joan Pedrora finished 30th as he got stuck in mud just 10km from the finish line

After the much deserved resting day at La Paz, the 2018 Dakar Rally kicked off from La Paz to Uyuni. Since the terrain changed, a software change, i.e. ECU remapping, was also required for the riders’ motorcycles as they were riding through a lot of river beds and harder ground as compared to the sand dunes faced earlier, which meant that the stages will now be longer and faster.

Both Hero MotoSports Team Rally riders tackled the stage with caution and arrived at the Uyuni bivouac safely, despite being deprived of any assistance from the support team during the run, as was the norm set for the Marathon stage.

Oriol Mena yet again pulled off another stage with elan as he finished in 17th position, allowing him to break into the top 20 rankings. Looking at his performance in this rally, it seems as if Mena isn’t a rookie at all. CS Santosh also had a good day, finishing the 7th stage in 39th position with an overall ranking of 42 at the end of the stage. This stage also proved to be the moment where the Hero MotoSports Team Rally fans witnessed the arrival of Joaquim Rodrigues in Portugal safely.

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Stage 8 to Tupiza, which is the 2nd leg of the Marathon Stage, had the riders deal with the longest special stage of the rally, covering nearly 500 kms, including a high altitude dune crossing, followed by an 87km liaison section. The 8th stage brought in the challenge of dealing with tough high-altitude riding in the mountain sand dunes at 3500m above sea level.

Oriol Mena was no different at this stage either, finishing the special in 12th position, which meant he moved up from his initial 20th position to 18th position in the overall ranking. Speaking on that achievement he said, “Today was a good day for me. My body was feeling good and I started the stage really well. For this stage, I decided to ride with my full potential and finish the stage without any major mistakes. I did lose maybe 20s in one small navigation error but it was ok as I reached the finish line and my bivouac in good time. So one day more gone and now one day less to Cordoba.”

Joan Pedrero of TVS Racing, who finished 30th in stage 8, is now in 20th place overall. On this achievement, David Casteau, his team manager, commented, “It was a very complicated stage today. There was a lot of mud - Joan got stuck in the mud 10 km from the finish. This explains his 30th place finish. It's a shame because he was having a very nice stage. Fortunately, our mechanics were able to intervene and provide him with assistance and Joan was able to finish.”

Santosh too gained good ground, finishing the stage in 38th position, which brought him to 42nd position in overall rankings. Commented on his fruitful experience in the longest marathon of the rally, Santosh said: “I think this Marathon stage was the hardest I have ever done. It was incredibly difficult as we did 80 km off-piste and the camel grass. I was physically drained with the high altitude riding and also crashed a couple of times. By the time I reached the marathon bivouac I had nothing left in me. This morning we had the longest stage of the Dakar which was tough again. Happy to be back here with the team, I missed these guys. Now we got a lucky break tomorrow and then we go racing all the way to Cordoba.”

Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally has been cancelled due to excessive rains in the region for the last few days, with a high risk to the riders due to the overflowing rivers. However, the riders and the rally will still need to cross the borders to move into Argentina on to their next bivouac at Salta, while covering the longest liaison section of the 2018 Dakar.