Hero and Sherco TVS Put Up Solid Performances at Merzouga Rally Stage 2

Published May 10, 2017
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Sherco TVS’ Juan Pedrero finishes 4th while Hero MotoSports’ Joaquim Rodrigues takes 9th place in Stage 2

The second stage of Afriquia Merzouga Rally was a 241km-long affair, with a special stage of 188km in the Erg Chebbi region of Merzouga and a 53km-long liaison section. The stage challenged the riders’ abilities with big dunes, dry riverbed crossings and difficult navigation sections. Juan Pedrero of Sherco TVS finished a commendable 4th place in Stage 2, while Joaquim Rodrigues (JRod) of Hero MotoSports Team Rally took the 9th position.

JRod started strong but lost a bit of time in finding a tricky waypoint in the dunes. He made up some time in the second half of the stage but with a lot of dust making visibility a challenge, he decided to take a more cautious approach and bring the bike home safely. Speaking about his performance, JRod commented, “Today the start was good and I was aggressive in the dunes to gain time, but around the 50km mark I lost some time finding the secret waypoint. After the first checkpoint, there was a lot of dust and it was hard to attack, so I preferred to keep it safe and bring the bike back home.”

Indian motorsport star CS Santosh performed brilliantly on Stage 2 finishing 15th. “First real stage of Merzouga, and I was a bit nervous to start with. My focus was to navigate well and not get lost because today’s stage was quite a complex stage with a lot of navigation. I am happy that I was able to achieve that and gave myself a lot of confidence for tomorrow. All in all a very good day and I am looking forward to the upcoming stages,” said Santosh.

While JRod leads the Sherco TVS team, Indian riders Aravind KP and Abdul Wahid Tanveer finished in 33rd and 34th place respectively. French rider Adrien Metge however, had to retire due to a technical issue with his motorcycle.

Provisional Results Stage 2:

1. De Soultrait Xavier, Yamaha, 03:31:12 hrs

2. Farres Guell Gerard, Yamaha, +04:00 min

3. Botturi Alessandro, Yamaha, +07:03 min

4. Juan Pedrero, Sherco TVS, +07:09 min

9. Joaquim Rodrigues, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, +13:10 min

15. C S Santosh, Hero MotoSports Team Rally, +28:04 min

Provisional Results Overall:

1. De Soultrait Xavier, Yamaha, 04:01:08 hrs

2. Farres Guell Gerard, Yamaha, +07:56 min

3. Botturi Alessandro, Yamaha, +10:23 min

4. Juan Pedrero, Sherco TVS, +12:43 min