Dakar 2017: CS Santosh, Aravind KP And Stage 3 Updates

The third stage of the 2017 Dakar Rally has concluded and CS Santosh finished the stage in 104th position, whereas Aravind KP is out of Dakar due to another crash.

By Sukesh

Published: Thursday, January 5, 2017, 10:44 [IST]

The day three of the 2017 Dakar Rally was an eventful one with many riders losing their way with navigational errors. The stage three San Miguel De Tucuman - San Salvador Jujuy was a 780km stage with 416km of timed section.

Dakar 2017: CS Santosh, Aravind KP And Stage 3 Updates

Hero Motorsports Team Rally rider CS Santosh had a very tough day at the office with navigational errors. He lost more than an hour trying to get back on track and ultimately finished the stage in a lowly 104th position which also dropped him in the overall standings to 67th position.

Whereas Santosh's teammate Joaquim Rodrigues too lost his way which cost him 35 minutes, but the Portuguese rider was back on speed and finished the stage in 19th position. His is in 20th position in the overall standings.

But it was a bad day for Sherco TVS rider Aravind KP. After crashing at the end of stage two, the brave rider continued to ride in stage three, but 40km into the stage he suffered another crash and injured his shoulder which ended his 2017 campaign. His teammate Juan Pedrero is in 14th overall.

Stage three was won by Honda rider Joan Barreda Bort, he also holds the overall lead with KTM rider Toby Price dropping down with the navigational error.

In the quad category, the stage three victory went to Argentina rider Gaston Gonzalez. Ignacio Casale holds the overall lead by a narrow margin ahead of Gonzalez.

In the cars category, Stephane Peterhansel crossed the finish line with the quickest time in stage three. It was a Peugeot lockout for the top three positions in the third stage. Sebastien Loeb leads the overall standing by a whisker ahead of Carlos Sainz.

In the trucks category, the Russian team of Eduard Nikolaev, Evgeny Yakovlev and Vladimir Rybakov were back in the game and won the third stage in their Kamaz truck. They also hold the overall lead after the conclusion of stage three.