Stage 2 of the Merzouga Rally is over, and French rider Xavier de Soultrait is on top of the standings, and hasachieved that despite having to ride first on all the stages on his Yamaha. Second-placed Gerard Farres on the KTM is now a total of 7:56 behind, and third placed Allessandro Botturi on another Yamaha ended the day at 10:23 behind the leader.
The first of the Indian teams' riders was Juan Pedrero Garcia, in fourth place. The TVS Sherco rider is 12:43 behind de Soultrait. Joaquim 'J Rod' Rodrigues riding the Hero Speedbrain is in eighth place, 17:18 behind the leader and just 4:35 behind the TVS rider. The first of the Indian riders is CS Santosh, in 14th place. He is 36:37 behind the leader. Aravind KP, the other TVS Sherco rider, is in 33rd place after day 2, while Abdul Wahid Tanveer, the wildcard entry from the Baja 2017, improved from his 84th position day 1 finish to a great 34th position, just behind Aravind. That is a really good result for a rider on his international debut.
Day 3 is a 112km twin-loop layout in the Valley of Monuments of the Desert. The riders will encounter small dunes and camel grass on this day.
