Hero and TVS finish Dakar 2018 on a high note

After 14 grueling days, the high-attrition 2018 Dakar Rally finally came to an end with a concluding 120km run around Cordoba – the shortest stage of the rally since the opener.

Hero Motosports’ Oriol Mena capped off his impressive Dakar debut with a strong sixth place finish in Stage 14. He finished the rally seventh overall, giving Hero its first top-10 Dakar result. “I enjoyed the last stage a lot and it felt as if these 120km were longer than my life. I aim at the finish line and have also won in the rookie class, so it’s a really good result,” said Mena.

CS Santosh took his best Dakar finish yet, classifying 34^th in the overall standings. This makes him the only Indian rider to have finished the Dakar Rally thrice. Commenting on his Dakar journey his year, Santosh said: “I had lots of ups and downs, some high points in the beginning, and then some lows as well. I think it was everything that you would envision a Dakar to be. My best Dakar so far, so I am really happy to be going home with that.”

Despite Adrien Metge and Aravind KP’s early retirement, Sherco-TVS completed the rally in high spirits with Joan Pedrero 11^th in the overall classification.

55-year-old Carlos Sainz clinched his second Dakar title, with a 44-minute lead over second-placed Nasser Al-Attiyah.