After getting off to a rocky start at his first ever attempt at the Dakar Rally, CS Santosh has steadily been picking up the pace and coming into his own. The 31-year old rider from Bangalore managed to finish his first day at the Dakar 85th, slowly picking up the pace and ending the second day 50th in the motorcycle standings. And now, after the third stage of the event from San Juan to Chilecito has been completed, Santosh’s performance has been consistent.
Riding a KTM 450 Rally for the Kini Red Bull Team, Santosh managed to put in a steady performance, ending the day with a time of 3 hours 23 minutes and 29 seconds, almost 49 minutes behind the leader of the day, Matthias Walkner. Santosh was 68th during the stage. This put him 53rd in the overall motorcycle standings after Stage 3 of the Dakar.
For the fourth stage of the rally, the riders including Chunchunguppe Shivashankar (which is how Santosh’s name appears in the official Dakar entry list) will travel 594km during the connection stage and 315km during the special stage itself. The stage is expected to be particularly tough as the competitors will experience for the first time the challenges of the Atacama desert.
Photo credit: Shakedown Team
Source :Overdrive.in
