Merzouga Rally 2016 - Stage 4- Hero team still in contention

Now the hardest days of the Afriquia Merzouga Rally in Morocco are over for the riders. After staying overnight in the bivouac in the Atlas mountains on their own, the pilots went to work on the morning of May 26 to complete the penultimate stage of the race. Joaquim Rodrigues, riding for the newly formed Hero MotoSports Team Rally, missed another top ten result by a couple of minutes, but the Portuguese rookie still lies well placed in the overall standings.

Rodrigues sums up his initial marathon experience: "My first ever (two-day) marathon stage didn´t start that great. I got lost too many times on Wednesday and had a crash. My navigation device broke and that was really bad. Luckily I found a fellow rider and followed him to the bivouac. I managed to fix the bike and started today alright. I was trying to catch the riders in front of me and got a little lost. Still it was a pretty good ride, happy to have finished this new challenge. Tomorrow we will end the rally with a format that should suit me. I´ll give it my best one more time."

"Yesterday was extremely tough," adds India´s CS Santosh, who finished Thursday´s stage in 23rd place. "The organisers had told us it was going to be demanding and it was for sure. They cut things short because of the weather, which was the right decision. This 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. The bike is fantastic, no problems at all. Now looking forward to the final stage," he sated

Friday´s closing stage five offers a special test of 74 kilometres in length. The top riders will be sent into the desert with a Le Mans-style start procedure. The race will be completed after six days and 1,500 km in the town of Erfoud around noon local time.

PROVISIONAL RESULTS STAGE 4

1. Kevin Benavides, ARG, Honda 2:19:35 hrs

2. Gerard Farres Guell, SPA, KTM +6:18 min; 3. Stefan Svitko, SVK, KTM +6:48; 4. Adrien van Beveren, FRA, Yamaha +8:11; 5. Ricky Brabec, USA, Yamaha +13:48; 12. Joaquim Rodrigues, POR, Hero +39:49; 23. CS Santosh, IND, Hero +1:02:14

PROVISIONAL OVERALL STANDINGS

1. Benavides 13:39:30 hrs

2. Svitko +3:05 min

3. van Beveren +11:36

4. Farres Guell +12:09

5. Helder Rodrigues, POR, Yamaha +12:53

9. Joaquim Rodrigues +2:45:24

19. CS Santosh