Santosh out of Dakar race

Arequipa (Peru), January 12 

CS Santosh crashed out in the fifth stage of the 41st edition of the Dakar Rally even as his teammates Oriol Mena and Joaquim Rodrigues dished out gritty performances to cross the finishing line on an incident-filled day. 

Santosh suffered a nasty crash between the waypoint 4 and 5, scuttling his chances to pursue the fifth stage further. The crash brought a premature end to Santosh's attempt to conquer a record fifth Dakar by an Indian.

Rodrigues gained some positions, finishing the fifth stage in the 18th place. Mena overcame the crash to finish the stage in the 16th place. Mena managed to retain his overnight 12th spot while Rodrigues climbed up three positions to be placed 28th in the overall rankings. Sherco TVS Racing's Aravind Prabhakar finished the stage at the 53rd position and is now placed 54th in the overall standings. — PTI