CS Santosh rides over dunes in Saudi Arabia during the shakedown for the Dakar Rally 2021.
© Ishaan Bhataiya | Red Bull Content Pool
Rally

Dakar Rally 2021: Follow daily updates on CS Santosh’s performances

The Bengaluru-based rally rider is participating in his seventh Dakar Rally. Read about how India’s most successful rider at Dakar is currently doing.
Written by Rohit Singh
4 min readPublished on
CS Santosh is back for Dakar Rally 2021 in Saudi Arabia. He will ride as competitor number 50; his favourite riding number.
The fastest Indian on two wheels will be lining up alongside Joaquim Rodrigues (competitor number 27) and Sebastian Buhler (competitor number 32) as part of the Hero MotoSports Team Rally.
The Dakar 2021 convoy will start off from the shores of the Red Sea with a Prologue stage in Jeddah on 2nd January. From here, the competitors will ride a 7,646km loop through the Arab Peninsula with a Rest Day at Ha’il being the only breather between two weeks of the world’s toughest rally racing. The competitors will be welcomed back in Jeddah on 15th January where the winners of the five categories (car, bike, truck, quad and UTV) will be awarded the prestigious bronze Dakar trophies at the finish line.
Below are daily updates on CS Santosh’s performances at Dakar Rally 2021. Unfortunately, a crash in stage 4 meant that he was unable to complete the rally.

Stage 4

CS Santosh suffered a crash in stage 4 of the rally. He was immediately attended to by the on-ground medical team and was found to be stable. He was taken to a hospital in Riyadh for a thorough evaluation and to provide him with the best possible medical care. Unfortunately, the crash brought a premature end to his 2021 Dakar Rally campaign.

Stage 3

CS Santosh rides over rough terrain in Saudi Arabia during Dakar Rally 2021

Santosh during stage 3 at Dakar 2021

© Marcelo Maragni | Red Bull Content Pool

CS Santosh closed stage 3 in the 36th position. The stage was a 629-km loop out and back in from Wadi Ad-Dawasir with a timed special of 403 kms. Santosh is now 34th in the overall bike ranking.
CS Santosh says: “Today’s was another long and fast stage. It was mostly about sitting back and opening the full throttle. Because of the wind, the visibility was not that great so it was tough to go full gas all the way. It wasn’t very enjoyable for me but I am happy to have put in a good stage today and also probably the best three days in the Dakar.”

Stage 2

Indian rally rider CS Santosh navigates through the dunes in Saudi Arabia at Dakar Rally 2021.

CS Santosh during stage 2 at Dakar 2021

© Hero MotoSports Team Rally

CS Santosh delivered a solid second stage and finished in 36th position. The 685-km Stage 2 included a really long 457-km special taking the competitors from Bisha to Wadi-Ad-Dawasir. The terrain was 82% sand and close to 13% dunes through the stage, which were conditions Santosh had practiced previously on his Hero 450 Rally bike.
CS Santosh says: “I started the stage with a lot of motivation today. It was a fast stage and the new bike started feeling really good and safe, so I am really happy with that. I am slowly building my confidence and if I can continue like this for the rest of the stages, I think I will be in a really good position by the time the rally finishes. So, today was a good start in the right direction for me.”

Stage 1

CS Santosh races during stage 1 of the Dakar Rally 2021 in Saudi Arabia.

CS Santosh during stage 1

© Hero MotoSports Team Rally

The first stage took riders from Jeddah to Bisha with a 277 km special stage and a total run of 622 kms including the transport sections.
CS Santosh decided to ride safe and finished the stage at the 43rd position. He is also in 43rd position in the overall standings after stage 1.
CS Santosh says: “It was definitely not an easy stage today. It was a really physical stage with a lot of rocks to go through so it was slow and you had to always watch the roadbook. There were lots of direction changes and tricky navigation to set you off the track. So overall I think it was a very tough first stage of the Dakar and it sets the precedence for the stages to come ahead.”

Prologue Stage

CS Santosh at the ceremonial podium at the start of the Dakar Rally 2021 in Saudi Arabia.

CS Santosh at the ceremonial podium before the start

© Hero MotoSports Team Rally

Starting his campaign on a positive note, CS Santosh took on the short 11 km Prologue stage comfortably to finish 35th place.
Having earlier completed all the administrative and technical checks successfully, Santosh rolled off the ceremonial podium to mark the official beginning of their Dakar 2021 campaign in Jeddah.
CS Santosh says: “Today we did the prologue stage and as with every Dakar, there were a lot of nerves, excitement and butterflies in the stomach. It was only 11 kms today but I had a good feeling on the bike. There's two weeks of racing ahead of us and I am looking forward to spending these on the motorcycle and ride as fast as I can.”

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