The 2018 edition of the Dakar Rally has commenced in South America and will be testing the grit of man and machine over the next two weeks. Part of the rally are two Indian teams – Hero MotoSports and TVS-Sherco that back two Indian riders CS Santosh and Aravind KP respectively. The opening stage of the Dakar Rally ended earlier today with Santosh leading the Indian contingent with a finish in the 13th place, while KTM’s Sam Sunderland leads the motorcycle category. Aravind KP, meanwhile finished 30th.
The first stage of the 2018 Dakar remained the same for all categories including cars, bikes, quads and trucks. The stage started from the Peruvian capital of Lima going south towards Pisco, with 242 km of liaison followed by a 31 km of timed section.
In his fourth Dakar outing, Santosh completed Stage 1 as the 13th quickest with a time of 24m11s, and was 3m16s down over the rally leader Sunderland. The Hero rider managed to secure a better position than his teammates as well with the newly joined Oriol Mena ending in the 22nd position with a gap of 58 seconds. Meanwhile, Joaquim Rodrigues had a horrible crash in the first 10 km of the timed section. JRod, as he is called, had to be airlifted to the hospital from the rally after suffering a blow to his face from his bike’s handlebar. Initial scans showed no signs of any major injuries and the rider is currently recuperating. Hero MotoSports will be continuing the rally with Santosh and Mena.
