Stage 3 marked the first half of the two-day marathon stage of the Merzouga Rally, currently boing held in Morocco. But the proceedings of the rally came to halt as the weather turned for the worse and it became difficult to guarantee safety of the competitors.
Temperatures were already above 40? Celsius. During Stage 3, a major desert storm brought the organisers to interrupt the rally at the second checkpoint itself.
Stage 3 was scheduled to be a 220km non stop special stage, without service breaks through the sand dunes. Some competitors had made it to the finish line, but some were halted after the second checkpoint, after the rest of the stage was cancelled due to the storm.
Hero MotorSport Team Rally riders, CS Santosh finished the stage, while Joaquim Rodrigues lost some valuable time due to a small crash during his run. Despite the set back, Rodriguez managed to place himself in the top ten in the overall standings.
Rodriguez was one of the few competitors who had finished the stage in its entirety before the stage was halted. But the organisers are yet to confirm their decision on the classification of the riders who made it to the end of the stage. Due to this, the results for the stage remain provisional and will soon be confirmed.
Riders will stay over night in the bivouac in the Atlas mountains to set off again in the morning for Stage 4. The next stage will direct the competitors towards the southern town of Erfoud for the second half of the marathon stage with a distance of 204km.
Write your Comment