After the third stage was cut short due to desert storm, the riders set out to cover 357km of the fourth stage on Thursday at Morocco.
Stage 4 saw three checkpoints having two short road section of 107km (76km & 31km) and a long 204km selective pathway in the marathon stage.
Meanwhile, Santosh who has had a mixed run until now, further enhanced his experience finishing 23rd in the fourth stage.
The Indian thereby maintained his 19th place in the overall list headed by a new leader Benavides taking over from KTM’s Stefan Svitko with one stage remaining.
“Wednesday was extremely tough. The organisers had told us it was going to be demanding and it was for sure,” Santosh said.
“They cut things short because of the weather, which was the right decision. Thursday morning I started well, but I made a mistake in the navigation.
“That cost me a lot of time. Overall I’m happy to be back at the main bivouac,” added the Bangalore-based rider.
Hero MotoSport rider and Santosh teammate Joaquim Rodrigues continued his impressive run as he finished 12th, 39.49s off fourth stage
