Dakar 2018 Stage 5 Ends Aravind KP’s Campaign

• Published On: 12 January 2018
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CS Santosh finished 51st overall, and his team-mate Oriol Mena’s strong finish saw him climb to 21st overall.

The fifth stage of the 2018 Dakar Rally saw riders go from San Juan de Marcona to Arequipa, the rally’s last stop in Peru, before the race moves towards Bolivia. The cars and trucks covered the 774km route first, followed by the quads and bikes.

Hero MotoSports Team’s Oriol Mena finished in 11th place finish, which saw him climb up to 21st in the overall standings. CS Santosh played it safe and finished the stage 52nd, which gives him an overall ranking of 51.

“It was probably one of the toughest stage of the Dakar 2018 and new experience for me. I am really happy to finish well without any major mistakes. The first part was yesterday’s stage in reverse with a lot of navigation involved. The last 53km was made of extremely soft sands and there were cars and trucks stranded everywhere, but I managed that section well. Now, we have about 450km to make it to the Bivouac at Arequipa and it will be another day in the bag,” said Mena.

The Sherco TVS Factory Rally Team suffered a setback, with Aravind KP suffering an ankle injury after crashing out.