- CS Santosh moves out after sustaining severe hip injuries in a crash
- KTM’ Sam Sunderland was fastest in stage 5
- Honda’s Ricky Brabec retains lead in the overall standings
The stage 5 of the Dakar Rally 2019 was spanned across 431km with 345km of timed section routed from Moquegua to Arequipa. While the top positions witnessed a bit of shuffle in ranking, the two Indian teams went through a profound transition. The fifth day brought a disappointment for Hero MotoSports after CS Santosh made his exit from the race due to a severe crash after which he sustained injuries on his hip. On the other hand, Sherco TVS’ Lorenzo Santolino pushed much harder than the previous stages only to finish a commendable third in stage 5 and eleventh overall.
Moving up in the chart, Honda rider Ricky Brabec retained the lead in the overall standings even after finishing 11th on the fifth day. The fastest in this stage was KTM’s Sam Sunderland who managed to up his overall ranking from fourth to second. Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) and Toby Price (KTM) both dipped one rank down to third and fourth, respectively.
Coming back to the Indian teams, Hero’s Oriol Mena continues the hustle to stay on the 12th position which he has been maintaining since stage 3. Also, Joaquim Rodrigues trudged three positions up to 28th after finishing the stage in top 20. Apart from Lorenzo’s commendable performance, TVS rider Adrien Metge continues to hold his 16th spot while his brother Michael settled at 24th position. Their team mate Aravind KP showed a notable increment in his ranking after ending up 54th, which was straight 10 positions departure from the previous 64th.
The sixth day will give a bit of breather for the riders as it will be a rest day. However, this is the time when the technicians make sure the motorcycles are spick and span in all aspects to take the beating of the succeeding days.
