Hero MotoSports Team Rally performed well to finish the Stage 3 of the Merzouga Rally 2018, in a strong position. Both Team riders improved their overall stadndings at the end of stage. Oriol Mena climbed up several places to finish the stage 3 in 14th position while CS Santosh came 27. Overall, Oriol stand at 16th place and C S Santosh at 20th place at the end of 3 stages.
Meanwhile, at the end of the stage, Sherco TVS Factory Rally team’s Joan Pedrero stood in the overall rankings at position 8 followed by Lorenzo Santolino at position 9. Duplessis Diego Martin maintained his good run with a position 11 finish while Vanni Cominotto finished the stage at position 24 in the overall rankings.
Competitors will now have to go through the night without the aid of their assistance crew and get ready for the part two of the Marathon stage.
The Marathon stage was made of a long liaison of 63 kms. This was followed by the 240 km stage where the riders had to negotiate the dunes of the Rissani erg, the Chebbi erg, sand in the Fezou region, and the Ouzina erg, before arriving at the campsite in the middle of the dunes for an evening in the desert.
Stage 4 will see the riders negotiate another 233 km of special stage slotted in between 36 km and 103 km of liaison sections. The riders will then reunite with their assistance crew at the Tombouctou hotel with only the last stage remaining to decide the rally champion.