Dakar 2018 Stage 11 Bikes: Hero’s Oriol Mena 10th Overall, TVS’ Pedrero Moves up to 14th

TVS Sherco and Hero Motorsport Team Rally seem all set to finish this year’s Dakar in very respectable positions. For the bikes, Stage 11 was the first leg of the Marathon stage as they covered a liaison of 205 kms and a special stage of 280 km to camp overnight in the Fiambala Mountains. The Stage left the riders without the assistance crew for the second time in the rally. The stage, challenged the riders with lots of lose sand and bit of soil.

Hero MotoSports Oriol Mena continued his great form and finished the first leg of the Marathon and the 11th stage of Dakar 2018, at 9th position. He now stands at 10th position in the overall rankings.

“Today was an important first leg of the Super Fiambala Marathon stage. The starting order for today was mixed with trucks and cars so it was really confusing in the beginning. The navigation as well was quite tough and the soft sand made it physically exhausting, making the stage feel longer than it was. But everything went very well, and the bike was working great. I am happy to make it to the bivouac and to have another good finish under me”, said Oriol Mena.

Joan Pedrero from from TVS Sherco, finished the 11th stage in an even better position. Joan stood 8th for the leg, in his best performance at Dakar yet. This performance pushes the Sherco TVS rider up to 14th in the ovgerall classifications and he now trails Hero’s Mena only by 11 minutes.

“He left very early this morning, at 3:30. He arrived very tired last night, it was not easy but he raced a very nice special. We had a lot of discussion last night, we are all here to finish strong! That includes the mechanics, they pamper the bike, and leave nothing to chance. We are doing everything possible to finish this Dakar.” said David Casteu, Team Manager,Sherco TVS Factory Rally Team.

Hero Motorsports Team Rally’s second rider, CS Santosh did well to reach the Fiambala bivouac and finish the stage at 33rd place, which takes him to the overall ranking of 34th at the end of stage 11. He will be aiming to improve his rankings further in the last few remaining stages.

C.S Santosh was satisfied with his performance too. “Today I was still very tired from yesterday so my mission was to make it to the marathon bivouac today. So I am happy to be here. Now I just need to get some rest and renew my energy and focus for the second leg of the marathon stage tomorrow,” he said.

Moving on to tomorrow, Stage 12 will take the competitors to San Juan and one more day closer to the finish line at Cordoba but not before their physical strength and endurance is put to test with many twists and turns and stony sections. With only 3 stages remaining now, the rally will look to get into the top gear with all competitors pushing hard to improve their positions. Stage 12 of the rally between Fiambala and San Juan of 723 km has apparently been cancelled for the bikes and quads category. The upcoming stage from Fiambalato Chilecito was also to be a marathon stage for motorcycle riders with twists, turns and multiple stony sections. Stage 12 will continue for the cars and trucks categories though, as their route is different from the quads and bikes category.