Major injuries ruled out: Hero MotoSports Statement on CS Santosh’s condition

New Delhi, 7 Jan 2021: Hero MotoSports has issued the following statement on the condition of 37-year old ace Indian rider and 7-time Dakar Rally veteran who crashed in Stage 5 and is airlifted to a Riyadh hospital. INDIAinF1.com wishes him a speedy recovery!

Santosh teammate Sebastian Buhler, who finished Stage 5 in 20th place said: “Today was a very tough stage. We had everything from tricky navigation, to a lot of dangerous rocks and a lot of dunes. So, I think it was a very good day for us to finish without any major incident. But the best news from today is to hear that Santosh is out of danger and is getting better. That’s the best part of today for us here in the team.” Another teammate, Joaquim Rodriques, popular as J-Rod despite a minor fall finished the stage in 22nd place. He said: “After a tough day, it was such great news to hear that Santosh has no major concerns with his injury and will recover well. We are really happy to hear this.”

Harith Noah continues good run with 41st position after Stage 5 for a general rank of 39 overall. He clocked 7 hours, 01min and 44 seconds for the 662-km stage. A TVS Racing product and the other Indian left in the field, is Ashish. Harith Noah supported by Sherco managed to complete the toughest section with aplomb whereas Mumbai Mariner, Ashish Raorane, in the Marathon category of `Malle’ for riders without assistance, has not made it to the finish at the time of reporting this article on 7 Jan at 9.33 pm IST. But he crossed the final Waypoint and was tracked live as he made it to the penultimate 330-km mark.

Earlier on Wednesday after Stage 4, Ashish Raorane said:

I had a good stage today. It finally felt like a rally after the Eenduro sections we were put through in the previous 3 stages! I had good fun navigating as well until I came across Santosh bike following his accident. As I passed it, I was unable to focus as his well-being and thoughts of his accident stayed with me. After an hour, I was able to regain focus and continue on…

Towards the end of the stage, I faced issues with navigation. The roadbook wasn’t scrolling so I had to manually scroll it, costing me a lot of time and missed turns. Overall, the stage was good with a long liaison though. At the bivouac, I noticed leakage from the front fuel tank fuel pump. I got working on it immediately and fixed the issue. Today was a really exhausting day and I wish my friend Santosh, a speedy recovery.”  

The Statement

Our Hero MotoSports Team Rally rider C S Santosh is currently receiving treatment at the Saudi German Hospital in Riyadh, after a high-speed crash on Wednesday in Stage 4 of the 2021 Dakar Rally.

We are pleased to share that he has no major physical injuries except for the dislocated right shoulder and head trauma. The latest scans have also shown no major issue that could impact his full recovery.

The medical team attending to him have decided that the best approach to manage the injury is to reduce the body functions to a minimum and keep him in a sedated condition or an artificial coma.

He is receiving the best possible medical care and will continue to be under constant observation for the next few days.

We express our deepest gratitude and thanks to the riders who extended their help to Santosh. We also want to thank the organizers for getting the medical and rescue teams on the spot in quick time and airlifting him to reach the hospital quickly.

We are also most grateful to all of you for pouring in your prayers and wishes from all over the world for the speedy recovery of Santosh and your overwhelming support to our team.

The entire Hero MotoSports Team Rally and the extended Hero Family is fully committed to aid the recovery and rehabilitation of our teammate.

Hero MotoSports riders in top-20

Moving past the unfortunate incident of Stage 4, Hero MotoSports Team Rally continued to move forward in their Dakar 2021 campaign with a solid performance in Stage 5 today.

After Stage 5, both the riders are now placed inside the Top 20 in the overall rankings, with Joaquim Rodrigues in 19th and Sebastian Buhler in the 20th position.

It was the turn of Sebastian Buhler today to step up and post gains with a 20th place finish in the stage. Joaquim Rodrigues also fought off a very tough stage to finish in the 22nd position. The 456 km stage lived up to its expectation of being a very hard one, with a tough dunes section, stone littered tracks and tricky navigation designed to test the patience and tyres of the competitors. Both team riders kept their nerves steady and brought a tough stage home.