- Oriol Mena bags first ever podium finish
- Joaquim Rodrigues finishes at fourth position
- Aravind KP ends the rally at 51st spot overall
With the riders tackling grueling terrain and navigation challenges, the 2019 Merzouga Rally came to an end. In stage five, as the competition culminated, both the Indian teams ended up being satisfied with the commendable performances of their riders.
Starting with the Hero MotorSports Team Rally riders, while Joaquim Rodrigues bagged the fourth spot in the overall ranking, Oriol Mena broke into top three as he finished the 2019 Merzouga at third position. Notably, this was Oriol's first ever podium finish since he kickstarted his rally career in 2017. While he aptly handled the challenges thrown by the course, his navigation skills helped him stay ahead of many other riders. Meanwhile, J Rod also remained in top 10 consistently throughout the rally.
On the other hand, Sherco TVS Rally Factory team rider Abdul Wahid Tanvir bagged the top position in the Enduro category ashe led the overall and stage raking charts. Abdul started his journey of international rallies this year and yet, managed to win two out of five stages and the Enduro segment of the 2019 Merzouga. In the Rally category, TVS' rider Aravind KP finished the fifth stage at 23rd spot while his overall ranking was at 51st position.
The Yamaha rider Adrien Van Beveren won the Moto Rally category of the 2019 Merzouga while Ross Branch of BAS Dakar team stood the runner up. Africa Dream Racing’s Alessandro Botturi held the fifth spot in the competition.
Although as short as 49kms, the fifth stage proved to be one of the toughest courses comprising entirely of sand dunes which was not only daunting to ride on but also proved tough in terms of navigation.
