NEW DELHI: Hero MotoSports team concluded their Rallye du Maroc (Rally of Morocco) campaign with a top-10 finish in the overall rankings.
Joaquim Rodrigues, who won the Prologue stage, was rewarded with an eighth place in the overall rankings.
“It was a good rally for me and I am really happy with my performance. All the teams here are testing for the Dakar and our bike is performing well against the competition," Rodrigues said in a media release.
Franco Caimi achieved two top-5 stage finishes during the rally. However, the technical troubles that he faced in the earlier stages cost him a good overall finish. He rode a measured stage 5, finishing in the 13th position.
"This race had a lot of learnings for me, and some technical difficulties as well. From here, we will keep working together on solutions and preparing for the biggest race of the year, the Dakar Rally,” Caimi said.
Sebastian Buhler finished in the top-10 in this final stage of the rally. However, he too lost positions in the overall rankings due to his technical issues earlier. The highlight of the rally for him was his resurgent run to achieve a second-place finish in Stage 3.
Stage 5 of the rally, initially set to run for 290km, was cut short to 166km. Overall, during the rally, competitors covered over 1500km of race distance.
With the Rallye du Maroc completed, the teams now set their sights on the 44th edition of Dakar Rally, scheduled to start from Ha'il, Saudi Arabia on January 2.
