Sherco TVS Rally team in stunning 3rd place, Aravind 53rd, Santosh crashes out: Dakar Stage 5
Arequipa, 11 Jan 2019: Aravind Prabhakar of Sherco TVS Rally Factory team just crossed the line finishing the Stage 5 with a splendid job to finish in 53rd place overall, after he broke into the top-50 for the first time in fifth stage. But top Indian rider CS Santosh crashed out in the tough fifth stage.
Lorenzo Santolino is in 3rd place. In the Moto Section of the Dakar Rally 2019, Sherco TVS Rally Factory team member Lorenzo hit the highest spot in the most difficult section of 776-stage Fifth Stage to put the Indian team on a high pedestal.
He clocked 4 hours 15.48sec and just 4 minutes away from the leader on the top spot. Other Indian team riders Oriol Mena and Joaquim Rodriques are in 16th and 18th places, riding for Hero MotoSports Team Rally.
Adrien Metge and Michael Metge are in 24th and 29th places, respectively. The two Sherco TVS riders have displayed tremendous show to bein the top-30 on a stage which is one of the toughest in the Dakar 2019.
The riders and drivers of the Dakar will have fully deserved their rest day, on completion of the 5th stage, which was made up of the longest and most varied timed sections on the rally.
The start took place for everyone in Tacna, which is the furthest point from Lima that the riders and drivers have reached this year. They started the journey back to the Peruvian capital by crossing a long zone of fesh-fesh before tackling the first tracks of the day, winding through sumptuous canyons, much to the delight of photographers and skid enthusiasts.
The long first portion came to a close in the dunes of Ilo, where the bikes and quads experienced a double dose of sand. In the meantime, the cars, SxS and trucks got to grips with a second part of the special, made up of 137 extra kilometres, with the formidable fesh-fesh already visited the day before on the menu, a terrain for the brave!
After a discrete start to the rally, Sam Sunderland reminded everyone of the reasons why he won the Dakar in 2017. The official KTM rider managed to extricate himself from a closely fought battle at the forefront of the stage to pick up his first victory of the year and close in to less than one minute from Ricky Brabec in the general standings. Sébastien Loeb also performed masterfully in the car race to take his second stage victory since the start in Lima, finishing more than 10 minutes ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah who reinforced his leadership of the general standings. Stéphane Peterhansel now trails the Qatari by 24 minutes. In the quad category, NicolásCavigliasso continues to ride a dream Dakar with another incontestable triumph, pushing his lead in the general standings on to almost 50 minutes and allowing him to approach the second half of the rally in peace of mind. However, it is a much closer affair in the truck race following another victory for Eduard Nikolaev who is still within reach for his team-mates Dmitry Sotnikov and AndreyKarginov in the general standings.
Saturday January 12 is a rest day for all 2019 Dakar Rally competitors. Riders will relax in Arequipa for the day before heading out to the bivouac on Saturday evening to prepare for Sunday’s stage six that will take them back to San Juan de Marcona.
Provisional Results Stage Five – 2019 Dakar Rally
1. Sam Sunderland (GBR), KTM, 4:11:48
2. Xavier de Soultrait (FRA), Yamaha, 4:15:11 +3:23
3. Lorenzo Santolino (ESP), Sherco, 4:15:48 +4:00
4. Adrien van Beveren (FRA), Yamaha, 4:16:14 +4:26
5. Andrew Short (USA), Husqvarna, 4:16:24 +4:36
