2016 Oilibya Rally Morocco Stage 4: Hero MotoSports Team Rally Update

The penultimate stage of the rally was held around the town of Erfoud and near the border to Algeria. This was the longest test of the rally with 319km of racing against the clock.

Hero MotoSports Team Rally riders Joaquim Rodrigues and CS Santosh have completed the penultimate stage of the Oilibya Rally Morocco in 20th and 22nd spot, respectively.

Indian rider CS Santosh suffered problems in Wednesday's stage, as his motorcycle came to a halt. He spent the whole day in the desert, his team was able to bring the motorcycle back to the bivouac.

Santosh said, "Today was tough. Due to yesterday´s result I was way down the starting order and it was obvious that this will make my ride more difficult. Indeed there was a lot of traffic and dust."

He added, "I still started to pick up competitors alright but 120 kilometres from the finish the first cars came and passed me. Then it becomes really hard, you even have to slow down until the dust settles."

Whereas his teammate Rodrigues began his day very well, but suffered from an unfortunate incident. Rodrigues explained, "Today´s stage was a little complicated. After 50 km there were a lot of rocks flying around. One rock hit my water hose and the bike started to lose water."

He further said, "As a result the engine delivered less power and I had to nurse the bike over 250 km to the finish with no coolant whatsoever. I wasn´t able to push, it was all about being smart. I´m very happy I managed to hang in there and to arrive here."

Rodrigues is currently 16th in the overall rankings, but Santosh's overall position is yet to be officially confirmed.