#33 Harith Noah better prepared in 2021

Harith Noah’s journey to the 2021 Dakar started early. As soon as August he moved to the south of France, living with his former team mate Michael Metge to get ready for his second Dakar, fully focused on training and never actually returning to India. In the footsteps of pioneers Santosh CS and Aravind Prabhakar, the young man from Kerala, but born in Germany who conquered multiple national titles in motocross and supercross was last year the latest Indian to take on the Dakar. His path to the rally was however a long one. It started on his sixteenth birthday when he was given a motorbike. A weekend later, he was racing and although he finished last of that first race, his passion grew. His first encounter with the Dakar came thanks to the video tapes his dad would bring back from his business trips all over the world. He was 5 years old then and far from imagining that he would be on the start line of the 2020 Dakar. Part of the Sherco TVS factory team, Noah’s first encounter with the race was a hard one. He was indeed forced to retire from the rally as soon as day 3 due to technical issues. But thanks to the new “Dakar Experience” that allows competitors to carry on while no longer being in the general classification, he was able to learn and gain experience. For his second attempt, his goal is simply to reach the finish and carry on enjoying the Dakar vibe, alongside his team mates Lorenzo Santolino and newcomer Rui Gonçalves.

“I got my first bike in 2009 and on the next weekend I was racing in the paddy fields by my house in Kerala. I fell in love with it immediately. Two years later I became national supercross champion in the privateer class. My focus was really on supercross, not the Dakar and then TVS got involved.
Honestly the Dakar 2020 was a really great experience. I had done some rallies before but the Dakar is another game. I fell in love with it. There’s such a vibe and I really enjoyed it. The Dakar is a small family but it’s like no other family. After being forced to retire for technical reasons which was unfortunate, I was able to carry on thanks to the Dakar Experience and I felt so grateful. I gained so much experience and learned. On the Dakar everything is tougher. It’s two weeks long. It was in a new country and you have to adapt to all the dunes and sand. My family was super stressed and they were calling me all the time.
This year was full of question marks. I was stuck in one place, in Kerala, but I continued training and it was actually great. I then went to Europe in August and competed at the Andalucia Rally which was really nice with tricky navigation. It was important to get used to the bike again and it was great motivation.
What I expect for the 2021Dakar? Well finishing is the number one priority. I just want to ride as well as I can. The plan isn’t to compare myself to others. I know I’ll make mistakes but I’m ready for that.”