CS Santosh, Harith Noah and Ashish Raorane, 3 Indian musketeers at Dakar

David Bodapati January 2, 2021

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Hero MotoSports Rally team rider CS Santosh during Stage 1 Dakar on 7Nov2018 Photo by© RallyZone - Edoardo Bauer

Jeddah, 2 Jan 2021: CS Santosh of Hero Motosports, TVS Racing’s Harith Noah, who will enter as a privateer with Sherco, last-year’s combo of Sherco TVS team, and another privateer Ashish Raorane will take part in the Malle Moto category of the 2021 Dakar Rally as a privateer, riding a KTM 450 Rally Replica.

TVS Racing, the first Indian team in Dakar in 2015, despite not fielding the team this year due to the pandemic and the costs involved, is sponsoring Harith Noah on a TVS RTR 450 bike. However, the technical support from TVS Racing will not be there for the Kerala rider who made his debut in Dakar last year.

Dakar rally kicks off on January 3 with a prorogue on Jan 2. And it will aired in India by Isport.

Noah will have his Sherco Rally Factory Team riders Lorenzo Santolino and Rui Goncalves on a Sherco TVS RTR 450 Rally motorcycle.

“TVS Racing, the factory racing team of TVS Motor Company, will not be participating in Dakar Rally 2021. Harith Noah, TVS Racing factory rider, will participate as a privateer in the Dakar Rally with Sherco Rally Factory Team and will be sponsored by TVS Racing. He will ride the Sherco TVS RTR 450 Rally motorcycle. We would like to wish Harith and Sherco Factory team racers, technical team and support staff the very best for the Dakar Rally,” TVS said.

A special rule introduced last year, helped Noah, who retired after stage 3, but continued and finished the rally with a superb performance that caught the eye of all. He clocked good time after good stage and in the later stages to finish 25 but was not ranked kdue to his Stage 3 retirement.

The 2021 Dakar Rally will be the second edition of the event held entirely in Saudi Arabia, largely due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions. The rally will flag off on January 3 in Jeddah and cover varied terrain across the region before concluding in the same city on January 15.

The route itself will be entirely new, and according to organisers, a lot more challenging compared to the 2020 edition. Participants will have to traverse a total of 7,646km, and 295 vehicles will compete across all classes – the lowest participation figure since the 1997 Dakar rally.

The 2021 edition will also see the introduction of digital roadbooks along with a host of rule changes to improve safety.

Harith Noah – SHERCO FACTORY