The 2018 Merzouga Rally saw its first two-day marathon run in Stage 3 and both the Indian teams managed to post good rankings at the end of the first day. Team Sherco TVS led the Indian contingent with Joan Pedrero Garcia finished at P8 at the end of Stage 3, finished eighth overall, while teammates Lorenzo Santolino finished at P11, ranking 9th overall. Sherco TVS rider Martin Diego Duplessis finished 13th in Stage 3, finishing 11th in overall rankings, while Vanni Cominotto finished at P21 and now ranks 24th overall.
Commenting on his performance, Joan Pedrero, Racer, Sherco TVS Factory Rally Team says, "This stage was extremely challenging for me as I had to negotiate dunes, sand and stones in a special marathon stage. We had to cross the tricky stone terrain with care as there was no external help in this stage. I am glad to have finished it with my bike in a good condition. "
At team Hero MotoSports, the riders managed to shrug off a minor setback of Stage 2 with rider Oriol Mena managing to climb up by several positions at P14. He now ranks in 16th place overall. India's CS Santosh too had a positive day and finished Stage 3 at P27, finishing in 20th place overall.
(Hero's CS Santosh ranks 20th overall at the end of Stage 3)
Commenting at the end of a favourable Stage 3, Hero's Oriol Mena said, "I started well today and attacked from the start to catch the rider in front of me. It was a day of mostly solo riding as I had a good clearance both in front and behind me. Made no navigation mistakes and rode carefully in the rocky section to arrive safely at the Marathon Bivouac. Now we rest and then prepare for the next section of the marathon stage."
Positive from his performance, Hero's CS Santosh said, "Today I decided to keep it safe with an aim to get the bike to the Marathon bivouac. My navigation was good and made no major mistakes, so a steady stage for me. The dune section was quite smooth and the rest of the part had lot of rocks and stones so I had to be careful there. The bike is riding perfectly and I am looking forward to the second part."
Stage 3 of the Merzouga Rally 2018 was made of a long liaison of 63 km, which was followed by the 240 km stage. The marathon stage saw the riders battle the duneso of Rissani erg, Chebbi erg along with sand in the Fezou region and Ouzina erg before finishing at the campsite. The riders did not get any assistance overnight to get ready for part two of the marathon stage.
For the penultimate stage of the rally, the riders will negotiate the dunes again for another 233 km of special stage slotted between 36 km and 103 km of liason sections. Stage 4 will be completed after reaching the Errachidia plateau.
