Dakar 2017: CS Santosh And Stage 7 Updates

The seventh stage of the 2017 Dakar Rally has concluded and CS Santosh finished the stage in 38th position. Due to bad weather the stage was shortened to just 161km of competitive distance.

By Sukesh

Updated: Tuesday, January 10, 2017, 9:51 [IST]

After a well-deserved break, the riders and drivers headed to the seventh stage of the 2017 Dakar Rally. The stage seven La Paz „- Uyuni was a 622km test with 322km of timed section. But because of rain, the special stage was combined with the sections of canceled sixth stage and the competitive distance was reduced to just 161km.

Dakar 2017: CS Santosh And Stage 7 Updates

Hero Motorsports Team Rally rider CS Santosh improved his pace in the seventh stage and finished the stage in 38th position. With the consistent pace, he also moved up the leaderboard and is in 67th position overall.

Santosh's teammate Joaquim Rodrigues was in a conservative mode in the seventh stage and crossed the finish line in 18th position. Despite the cautious approach, he is in 11th position in the overall rankings.

The stage seven victory went to the Honda rider, Ricky Brabec. He was the sixth different stage winner in as many stages. KTM rider Sam Sunderland holds the overall lead.

In the quads category, the stage seven was won by Sergey Karyakin, the Yamaha quad rider also holds the rally lead ahead of Simon Vitse.

In the cars category, Stephane Peterhansel topped the time chart in the seventh stage. He also leads the rally by a narrow margin ahead of nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb.

In the trucks category, the Russian team of Dmitry Sotnikov, Ruslan Akhmadeev and Igor Leonov were back in the pace in their Kamaz truck and won the seventh stage. Dutch driver Gerard De Rooy holds the overall lead in his Iveco truck.