Stage 6 of the Dakar rally was the longest stage yet with a total of 830 kms to be done, including the 478 kms of the special. From Ha’il to Riyadh, the change of scenery was dramatic as the special stage was 100% sand and entirely off-road. After a relatively fast first section, the competitors met with the dunes challenge.
Finding themselves in familiar territory, having tackled similar terrains in Morocco and some sections in the South American chapter of the Dakar, Hero MotoSports Team Rally tried to give it a last push to reach the half-way mark in a good position. However, the stage had different ideas. Sebastian Buhler, the young rider who has been nothing short of impressive so far and, was well poised to break into the Top 15 in the overall rankings today, suffered a technical issue with his bike and could not finish the stage. As a result, he too is now out of the contention for the overall results, but like his team mate Joaquim, he will opt to restart the race again in Stage 7 and still compete for the stage results and gain valuable Dakar experience.
Not all was bad today for Hero MotoSports Team Rally as Paulo Goncalves led the charge again for the team, and the Dakar legend put his vast experience to good use to finish the stage in 8th position, his third Top 10 in a row. CS Santosh continued to gain in confidence as he too made a last dash for a better ranking today to finish the stage in the 32nd place. Joaquim Rodrigues too had a steady stage as he finished 27th in the stage rankings.
In the overall rankings, now with only two riders in the contention for the overall results, CS Santosh leads the team’s rankings at 36th position overall while Paulo made further gains in the rankings and climbed up to the 46th place. Joaquim and Sebastian will continue to contend for the day results and support their team mates.
It has been a tough first week of the Dakar Rally for Hero MotoSports Team Rally with some really good starts and impressive stage performances being undermined by a series of unfortunate technical snags. The team is looking forward to the rest day tomorrow at Riyadh, as it will give everyone a chance to recover mentally and physically, and also to re-organise their strategy for the even longer second week of Dakar 2020.
The second half of Dakar 2020 will be kicked – off on 12th January with Stage 7, the longest stage of the rally with 546 kms to be done on the clock. It will be followed by a series of really long stages, including a Marathon stage, designed to put to test the endurance and mettle of the competitors before the grand finish at Qiddiyah on January 17th.
Paulo Goncalves (Comp No. 8) said, “Today was a really long day in the rally with 800+ kms to be ridden. It was a beautiful stage with scenery full of sand and dunes. I decided to go fast today and enjoyed the change of pace a lot. I am happy to deliver another good stage for the team. Now, we are here at Riyadh and I am looking forward to the rest day tomorrow to start afresh in the second week with good motivation.”
CS Santosh (Comp No. 50) said, “Today’s stage was very difficult for me as it was very fast and sandy, which made my bike move a lot and aggravated my hand injury. So I didn’t enjoy the fast pace of today but I am really happy to have made it through the first week of the Dakar. It has been tough and gruelling for the entire team, so I am looking forward to the rest day tomorrow to get ready for the next week.”
Joaquim Rodrigues (Comp No. 27) said, “Today was a good day for me. I started the stage really well and passed a few guys until I reached the refuel point. There, I noticed some kind of a liquid dropping out of the bike and immediately decided to take it safe so I am really happy to get my Hero bike to the finish line today. We are here after finishing the tough first week and it feels good. Tomorrow, we take the rest day and try to recover for the next week of the Dakar.”
Sebastian Buhler (Comp No. 32) said, “The stage was quite fast and tough today. I was riding well until the second refuel point. After that, the bike developed some issues and stopped. I tried to get it started but, in the end, it didn’t start. So now, we will look into the issues and try to fix it and restart the race after the rest day.”
Source Hero MotoSports Team Rally
