Dakar Rally is currently being held in Saudi Arabia and is notorious for being one of the toughest and most gruelling racing events on Earth. Crashes are not a new sight. And unfortunately, this time around, Hero MotoSports’ rider CS Santosh suffered a horrible crash during stage 4 of the event after crossing the waypoint 4 and suffered a head injury. He was immediately airlifted to a hospital in Riyadh.
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It is reported that due to the heavy impact on the head, CS Santosh might have a minor clot in his head. He is currently induced in a Coma medically and will be kept under thorough observation for the next 24 hours. It is also reported that he doesn’t have any other physical injuries.
Talking about the man himself, CS Santosh, he was making his 7th appearance at the Dakar Rally, proudly representing India. Previously, CS Santosh has competed in various Rally races across the world and he is the first Indian ever to make an appearance and compete in this notoriously gruelling rally race.
After the crash, he was said to be stable. But due to the complexities of the crash and the injury, he was medically induced in a coma. This incident occurred at a stage where exactly this time last year, Hero MotoSports’ rider Paulo Goncales tragically lost his life while competing in the Dakar Rally 2020. This current incident naturally brought back those painful memories. Hero MotoSport entered the 2021 edition of the Dakar Rally with 3 riders – CS Santosh, Joaquim Rodrigues and Sebastian Buhler.
Joaquim Rodrigues, CS Santosh’s teammate at Hero MotoSport said, “First of all, my thoughts go out to our brother Santosh and I wish him a speedy recovery. I know that he will pull through to come back stronger. Today was a very tough stage for me as this was where the tragic incident happened last year. It brought back a lot of painful memories for me and I couldn’t sleep all night. I had a nervous start to the stage but as I started to ride, I started to get into a rhythm and my navigation was perfect. I believe it was Paulo who was navigating for me today and I am so happy to know that feeling.”
Incidents like this make us realise again and again the amount of risk these riders and drivers undertake to bring laurels to the country. They definitely deserve much more respect and recognition. We at Motoroids wish the fastest of recoveries to our beloved CS Santosh.