Hero MotoSports Team Rally’s CS Santosh had a massive crash approximately 135km into Stage 4 of the Dakar 2021 Rally. According to initial reports, CS had suffered an impact on his head but was conscious and seemed stable when the paramedics arrived at the scene.
Now, however, new information has come to light from an interview of Paul Spierings with RallyManiacs.com. Husqvarna rider Paul Spierings stated that when he arrived at the scene of the crash, he saw two crashed motorcycles, one of CS Santosh and the other belonged to Husqvarna rider Maurizio Gerini. Gerini was fine and was immediately up and went to tend to Santosh who was lying unconscious. Maurizio and Gerini attempted to resuscitate Santosh and felt a pulse by the time the paramedics arrived and took him to Al Duwadimi’s advanced medical post. He was later taken to Saudi German hospital in Riyadh for further medical treatment. As it stands, because of the impact CS Santosh suffered on his head, the doctors have put him under a medically induced coma and will be undergoing diagnostic scans today. This crash unfortunately means the end of CS Santosh’s running in the Dakar 2021.
Commenting on Santosh’s unfortunate crash, Wolfgang Fischer, team manager and head, Hero MotoSports Team Rally said, “It was quite an emotionally difficult day for us as it was the same stage in which we lost Paulo last year in reverse order, so a lot of emotions. Santosh had a bad crash today. He’s out of the Dakar, now in medical treatment in the hospital. We wish him all the best for a speedy recovery. On the sporting side, on the other hand we had the best result so far with a superb P6 for J-Rod who is really coming back to his rhythm. And also, for Sebastian, it was a good stage until a small mistake at the end, losing sometime. So, we all cross fingers for Santosh to come back soon and for the team to continue without further crashes.”
We wish CS Santosh a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the saddle ready to take on Dakar 2022. In the meanwhile, stay tuned for updates on Santosh’s condition.