Spaniard Oriol Mena finished a creditable second while his teammate Joaquim Rodrigues bagged the fourth spot to help Hero MotoSports achieve a top-five finish at the second stage of the Merzouga Rally 2019 here Wednesday.
Mena was in his top form as he delivered a flawless stage without any mistakes. He finished the stage in second place.
Rodrigues too showed why he is such a formidable competitor as he tackled the rain marred terrain deftly, overcoming the navigation challenges.
With this performance, both the riders also broke into top five in the overall rankings.
Overall, Rodrigues is placed third while Mena is in fifth spot.
The stage took competitors on a new loop around the Xaluca Hotel, where the race has set up its bivouac. The riders faced a 212km special divided into two parts.
At 86km long, the first part was the trickiest one because it featured the dunes of Erg Chebbi, the landmark for which the Merzouga region is famous.
The second part of the stage was much faster, crossing over a mountain range, with even trickier navigation. The conditions were much worse in general for the riders as rains all through the week, leading up to the Rally, washed away all the tracks, thereby making navigation that much more difficult.
Stage 3 will mark the first part of the second day marathon stage, taking the competitors away from their assistance for a night out in the Moroccan desert.
"It was a good day for me. I got into a nice rhythm and rode well. I did not make any mistakes and manage to catch up with the guys in front. In the second part too, I did not commit any mistake and rode with a nice pace all through the way. I feel good after the stag," Mena said.
Rodrigues added: "It was a really difficult day for navigation. It rained all night and because of that all the tracks were gone making it really hard to find the way. I tried to ride smart, managed to get into a good rhythm. Towards the end of the stage, my race GPS got bumped off so lost some time in putting it back.
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