Hero MotoSport’s Paulo Goncalves  takes his 3rd top ten finish in stage 6 of the 2020 Dakar

Hero MotoSports Team Rally riders achieved mixed results in stage six before reaching the half way mark at the 2020 Dakar Rally. However, Paulo Goncalves led the charge by finishing stage six in the eighth position which is his third top ten finish in a row.

Sebastian Buhler, who seemed well on his way to breaking into the top 15 suffered a technical issue with the bike and could not finish the stage. This put him out of contention for overall rankings but like his teammate Joaquim, he too will opt to start the race again in stage seven.

C S Santosh and Joaquim Rodrigues, both had a steady stage and seemed confident in their 478km dash from Ha’il to Riyadh. Both of them successfully finished the stage in the 32nd and 27th positions. Now only two Hero riders are in contention for overall rankings – C S Santosh and Paulo Goncalves, standing at 36th and 46th positions respectively.

The Dakar Rally’s extremely enduring nature has had its impact on Hero MotoSports Team Rally. Even after impressive stage timings and good performances, the team suffered unfortunate technical snags. However, with the rest day today in Riyad, the team will look to recover mentally and physically before entering the second week of Dakar 2020. Stage seven begins tomorrow and at 546km, it will be the longest stage at Dakar 2020.

Here’s what C S Santosh had to say after six stages, “Today’s stage was very difficult for me as it was very fast and sandy which made my bike move a lot and aggravated my hand injury. So, I didn’t enjoy the fast pace of today but I am really happy to have made it through the first week of the Dakar. It has been tough and grueling for the entire team so I am looking forward to the rest day tomorrow to get some rest and get ready for the next week”