Dakar 2016: India's CS Santosh Out After Stage 4 Due to Technical Issues

Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally 2016 wasn't favourable to Indian motorsport enthusiasts who had been eagerly waiting for CS Santosh to improve his overall rankings. The WP1 of stage 4 didn't go as planned for the Indian rider as his navigation tower broke just after WP1 leaving him almost handicapped. As if a broken navigation tower wasn't enough, the electricals of his Suzuki 450 Rally shot too somewhere during the stage.

Before the navigation tower broke, intranet tracking showed that he was improving his ranking. Starting 61 from the grid, CS Santosh was 58 before the race gods conspired against him leaving him helpless. After he managed to finish the stage somehow, he was behind the race leader Paulo Goncalves by almost four hours.

After stage 1 was cancelled due to poor weather, CS Santosh started stage 2 from 127th position overall. After completion of the stage, he was promoted to 97th rank overall, which later went up to 79 after completion of stage 3.

Also Read - Dakar 2016: After Stage 3, CS Santosh Is 82nd Overall

According to the rules, the participants weren't allowed to use their mechanics after stage 3 which left CS Santosh with no other option but to retire from the 2016 edition of the world's toughest and most challenging rally.

Image Souorce: Reuters