Astride a rally spec of Royal Enfield Himalayan 450, CS Santosh was driving by means of the grime on the banks of the Egidillo river in Spain when reminiscences of him flying by means of the dunes on the Dakar Rally flashed throughout his thoughts. “It felt the same like when I did the Dakar for the very first time. I loved it then and I love it now,” says the 41-year-old.
CS Santosh. (Instagram)
Three years and 9 months since struggling a near-fatal crash on the 2021 Dakar, India’s pioneering rallyist, the primary Indian to compete and full the Dakar, made a comeback to the game on the two-day Rallye TT Cuenca in October.
Santosh is not any stranger to terrifying crashes. He’s all scars. However none of them derailed his life the way in which the high-speed accident in 2021 did, leaving him with mind trauma, partial reminiscence loss, double imaginative and prescient, lack of gross motor expertise and despair.
Then started a protracted street to restoration for Santosh to bridge the gaps in his reminiscence and to relearn fundamentals, akin to the way to coordinate his arms, legs and get them to work collectively to attain small duties. However the off-roader from Bengaluru learnt rapidly and was again on a two-wheeler in seven months.
Nonetheless, he was removed from competing. It was his indomitable spirit of returning to the Dakar Rally that made him undergo rehabilitation, spend a number of classes with docs and several other months yearly at sports activities drugs centres throughout Europe that Santosh made the not possible occur.
“My memory is so affected that I don’t even remember the last time I raced. After the doctors said I could harbour ambitions to go racing again I was finally able to come through the race,” mentioned Santosh, who returned to India this weekend after spending 9 months in Spain.
Santosh realised that the brief Rallye TT Cuenca was the proper alternative to verify whether or not he might do it once more.
“All the sentiments were basically addressed. The fact is this race should not have been a big deal at all for who I was. The most important aspect was to see how my body reacted. Earlier, it would not respond to training. But now I started to see that the body was responding to my training,” mentioned Santosh, who competed in seven Dakar rallies from 2015 to 2021 with a greatest end of thirty fourth in 2018.
Although Santosh was exhilarated to go rallying once more, a couple of minutes into the race he realised that not having raced for near 4 years was taking a toll regardless of all of the coaching.
“It was incredible how hard it was for me to be that good (back in the day) because for the very first time in my life I wanted to give up in the race. I heard my emotions. I was having conversations with myself during the rally. I couldn’t believe I was thinking about giving up. I thought to myself, I don’t know why I am asking myself this,” added the Bengaluru-born.
Santosh fought his tiring physique and whirlpool of feelings to complete the rally after two days and 400kms, ending thirtieth out of 38 individuals. He wasn’t finished but. The enduro racer determined to push his limits and in addition took half in Canyamars, a three-hour endurance race, final month to additional take a look at himself.
“I was much more comfortable. My body got used to the idea that this is who I am. I was not cognitive in the basic way, but my body remembers. I felt really good. Firstly, I was able to do the whole race. Secondly, I was able set my game and kept getting better and better,” he mentioned.
After spending a few days together with his household in Bengaluru, Santosh has headed to BigRock DirtPark, his off-road facility in Kolar the place he can be coaching for his subsequent occasion — Rally Oasis in Tunisia. The seven-day occasion in March 2025 is what he intends to name his ‘comeback’ which will even get him on the street to Dakar, the world’s longest, hardest and most harmful rally.
“Tunisia is a proper, long rally. It will help in fulfilling my ambition of going back to the Dakar,” concluded Santosh.