The Dakar Series – Afriquia Merzouga Rally 2018 commenced yesterday with a 40km free practice session that had a mix of dunes and tracks. It was followed by a competitive 5km prologue stage in the dunes, where Pedrero and Santilino took the fourth and fifth positions at the end of the stage.
Hero MotoSport riders Oriol Mena and CS Santosh finished the prologue stage in 13th and 27th places respectively. Debutants Duplessis Diego Martin and Vanni Cominotto from Sherco TVS, finished the stage at 15th and 34th position respectively.There are a total of 71 participants in the Moto category.
The five-stage rally has three categories – Moto, Quad and SxS. Hero MotoSports rider Joaquim Rodrigues will not be participating in the event due to injuries sustained at this year’s Dakar. Adrian Metge from Sherco TVS too misses out this year’s Merzouga rally.