2020 Andalucia Rally: Hero MotoSports' Buhler & Santosh Gain Positions At The End Of Stage 2

Hero MotoSports Team Rally made progress in Stage 2 of the 2020 Andalucia Rally held in Spain. The team was led by Sebastian Buhler who showed incredible pace and finished the day in 10th place. Meanwhile, Joaquim 'J-Rod' Rodrigues hit a technical snag that required the team to bring him back to the bivouac, in order to avoid any unnecessary risks. Lastly, India's CS Santosh made progress to finish 23rd at the end of the stage.

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The second stage of the Andalucia Rally was a particularly tricky one with the 243 km special section putting up a twisty and narrow first part, followed by sandy tracks and then faster tracks once again. Despite the technically challenging course, Buhler progressed up to 14th from 21st in the overall standings. Interestingly, after re-calculations, the rider was further promoted to 10th place in the stage and 12th overall. Santosh found his rhythm through the stage but lost time due to a navigation error in the second part. He had also stopped to help J-Rod with his machine, but managed to finish 23rd at the end of the day, and 21st in the overall standings.

UPDATE: After re-calculations, Buhler finishes Stage 2 of #AndaluciaRally in 10th place, leading to a 12th overall position. Well done, Basti! pic.twitter.com/daG7Vo8TO3

— Hero MotoSports (@hero_motosports) October 8, 2020

Sebastian Buhler, Rider, Hero MotoSports said, "Today's stage was similar to the last one so I had a good outing today as well. I got to spend some more valuable time on the bike and that's what we are here for. I made a small navigation mistake in the beginning and let the rider behind me catch me but other than that it was all good. Happy to bring another stage to a finish for the team."

Santosh lost time in the second part of the stage due to a navigation error but managed to finish the stage in 23rd place

C S Santosh, Rider, Hero MotoSports said, "I saw that Joaquim needed some help, so I stopped and helped him out of the stage. After that I got into a nice rhythm and rode quite well in the first half of the stage. In the second part, I made an error of going back to find a waypoint that I could have avoided. Regardless of the result today I felt pretty good on the bike and found a nice flow to my riding. I am learning from my mistakes which will surely benefit me at the Dakar. Now on to the remaining two stages of the rally."

Rodrigues received a heavy penalty for not completing the stage and has been pushed at the end of the overall rankings. He is expected to restart tomorrow. Meanwhile, Ross Branch of the Monster Yamaha Rally Team led the Stage 2 rankings, while Kevin Benavides of the Monster Energy Honda Team leads the overall rider standings. The Andalucia rally works as a test bed for the team and riders as they prepare for the next Dakar Rally scheduled in January 2021.

Stage 2 of the #AndaluciaRally was all about teamwork.
After JRod faced issues with his bike, CS helped him at the expense of his timings.
And Buhler continued to impress for the team, securing a Top 15 overall finish. #ReturnOfTheHeroes #RaceTheLimits pic.twitter.com/meJ68LweBw

— Hero MotoSports (@hero_motosports) October 8, 2020

Joaquim Rodrigues, Rider, Hero MotoSports said, "Today was a short day for me as my bike started having some problem with the electricals right at the beginning of the stage. The team decided to bring the bike back to investigate the issue. These things happen in rallies and that's why we are here, to test the new equipment and configurations before the Dakar. The team is now working on the bike so that we can be ready to go out tomorrow again."

For the third stage, the 2020 Andalucia Rally will cover 378 km including the 233 km special stage that starts near the town Arahal, Southeast of Seville in Spain.