PICTURES COURTESY SPEEDBRAIN
As temperatures in the desert climbed to 40 degrees celsius and more on Wednesday May 25, 2016, a desert storm made things complicated for the competitors of the Afriquia Merzouga Rally in Morocco. Originally the focus of Stage 3 was on the first part of the two-day marathon stage, meaning the pilots had to maintain their machines in the bivouac without the help of outside mechanical assistance. The stage was scheduled to offer 220 kilometres of timed special test, mostly on sandy off-piste terrain. But all such plans were tossed out of the window as the weather changed to the worse.
The Hero MotoSports Team Rally overcame the tough situation with Joaquim Rodrigues making headway and CS Santosh finishing the stage. With the conditions becoming too critical to guarantee a fair and safe competition, the race was finally interrupted at the second checkpoint. It is uncertain what this means for the riders who had already reached the end of the special test before the proceedings were halted. It looks as though Joaquim Rodrigues, who was one of only a dozen riders making it to the bivouac at 4 pm local time, had lost some ground on the leaders because of a minor crash. But a brave and courageous ride moved him into the top ten of the overall classification.
Regardless of how the currently provisional results will be confirmed, it´s clear that the decisive phase of the race has begun. The riders stay overnight in the bivouac in the Atlas mountains. Tomorrow the stage will be leading back south towards the town of Erfoud. 204 km of special test are on the agenda. Riders are scheduled enter the first road section at 6 am.
According to the provisional results, the two Hero MotorSports Team Rally riders on their Speedbrain bikes have managed to come in the top 15 standings.
Marelli, a global technology partner to the automotive industry, will present at Auto Shanghai 2025 its technology based on a strategic platform approach, which streamlines hardware development, enabl...
Nissan announced it will launch its next generation Pro PILOT technology from fiscal year 2027. The system, featuring Nissan Ground Truth Perception technology with next-generation Lidar and Wayve AI ...
Karcher India has launched the eco!Booster, an advanced cleaning accessory that delivers 50% higher efficiency than standard flat jet nozzles.