Dakar 2018: CS Santosh, Aravind KP And Stage 4 Updates

Hero MotoSports Team Rally rider CS Santosh came out with a purpose to make up for the lost time and rode hard to cover a lot of positions. But in the second half of the stage, he suffered a nasty crash. Santosh gained over 40 positions to finish the stage and overall at 56th place.

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Santosh's teammate Oriol Mena continued his excellent form, and he started the stage well but lost time finding a waypoint in the later part of the stage. He managed to finish the fourth stage in 33rd position, which now places him in the 24th position in the overall standings.

Sherco TVS rider Aravind KP had a tough stage with tricky conditions and hidden waypoints and managed to finish the fourth stage in 44th position. But the stage result did not hamper his overall position, as he is placed in 33rd position in the overall leaderboard. His teammate Juan Pedrero Garcia is in 17th spot in the general rankings.

In the bikes category, Yamaha rider Adrian van Beveren took the stage win and the rally lead as KTM rider Sam Sunderland suffered a crash. The Briton rider sustained injuries to his back and has been ruled out of the rally. Pablo Quintanilla and Kevin Benavides rounded off the top three riders in the overall standings.

In the quads category, reigning Dakar champion Sergey Karyakin was the fastest rider in the fourth stage. The overall lead is held by Chilean rider Ignacio Casale, over 25 minutes ahead of Karyakin. Alexis Hernandez moved up to third in the overall standings.

In the cars category, Sebastien Loeb was back to his rhythm and was the fastest driver in the tricky fourth stage. With the stage win, he is second in the overall standings, just six minutes, 55 seconds behind rally leader Stephane Peterhansel. Veteran driver Carlos Sainz is in third overall, making it a Peugeot lockout for the top three positions.

In the trucks category, the stage four victory went to Eduard Nikolaev driving his Kamaz truck. The Russian was back in form and also leads the rally. Argentina driver Federico Villagra is placed second in the overall rankings.

2018 Dakar Stage 4 Results

Motorcycles

1. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA) Yamaha
2. Xavier De Soultrait (FRA) Yamaha
3. Matthias Walkner (AUT) KTM

Quads

1. Sergei Kariakin (RUS) Yamaha
2. Ignacio Casale (CHL) Yamaha
3. Alexis Hernandez (PER) Yamaha

Cars

1. Sebastien Loeb (FRA) Peugeot
2. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Peugeot
3. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA) Peugeot

Trucks

1. Eduard Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz
2. Federico Villagra (ARG) Iveco
3. Martin Kolomy (CZE) Tatra

DriveSpark Thinks!

The Stage 4 of the 2018 Dakar Rally was a tough one for the crews with the longest dune section. The fifth stage will see the rally moving to Arequipa with sandy and dune sections. It will be the longest stage yet, with an overall distance of 774km and timed section of 266km.