Harith Noah finishes 48h Chrono marathon stage at a career-best P12: Dakar Rally

Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), 13 January 2024: Ace Sherco TVS rider, Harith Noah continued his strong campaign at Dakar Rally 2024 conquering the ‘48-hour Chrono’ marathon stage with a noteworthy 12th place in the general classification for bikes and a third place in the Rally2 class going into the rest day on Saturday

 Sherco TVS Factory rider, Noah has made outstanding progress in the 48-hour chrono stage, starting from 21st and climbing up to 12th by the end of the stage. In the overall rankings, he holds 13th position, climbing up from 18th. Harith Noah is sponsored by TVS, Sherco, Scott India, Red Bull India, Stanley Tools India, 100%, Alpine Stars and Mobius Braces.

“This is the longest stage in my life. A 625km in the dunes. On the first day of the 2-day 48h Chrono Stage 6, I managed to do  a bulk of the run finishing 430km. I rode with Toni Mulec (Insta @tonimulec) and stopped to give Rui Goncalves of Hero MotoSports some spares. Stopping at 16:30 hours to sleep and go the next day at 6:30 am to do the rest of the stage. I had a few tip-overs and rolled down a big dune without the bike but that was about it, lots of drama but done,” said Harith Noah after the marathon stage. In fact, “the air bag opened up but ‘thanks God! nothing happened,” is how he dismissed it. Now he will have a day’s rest before tackling the second week of the Dakar. He is also involved in a bit of service helping his former training partner Mason Klein helping start his bike along with Dakar legend Nasser Attiyah.

“Harith Noah rewrites the script! Halfway through the brutal Dakar Rally, he sits 13th overall, the highest ever for an Indian. He also bagged a historic podium finish in Rally2! Catch his inspiring journey unfold!,” said TVS Racing in it official Instagram handle.

After six stages and a total of eight days of racing, including the prologue in AlUla, the 46th edition of the Dakar has been a roller-coaster of breakthrough performances, vindications, debacles, plot twists, comebacks and surprises on the tracks and dunes of Saudi Arabia. The culmination of the first week, the brand-new 48H Chrono concept, scattered drivers and co-drivers across the Empty Quarter and delivered on its promise: nearly every category saw a change in leadership as the field emerged from the dunes, just before the rest day in Riyadh.

Exactly at the midpoint, with another 2,384 kilometres of specials on equally diverse terrains ahead, the big kahunas will now get to grips with the return trip in their bids to claim victory in Yanbu.

Ricky Brabec and his Honda teammates have laid down a marker; Carlos Sainz and Mattias Ekström‘s Audis are calling the shots ahead of Sébastien Loeb; Eryk Goczał is trouncing the opposition in the Challenger class; Yasir Seaidan‘s dominance in SSV race is softening the blow of Yazeed Al Rajhi‘s exit for the Saudi fans; and Martin Macík rolled into the capital as the king of the juggernauts.

All in all, 291 out of the 330 vehicles at the start have completed the first half of the rally, including 111 motorbikes (out of 122), 8 quads (out of 10) for the FIM entrants; and 59 Ultimate cars (out of 70), 40 Challenger cars (out of 42), 30 SSVs (out of 36), 3 Stock cars (out of 3) and 40 trucks (out of 47). The Czech Ondřej Klymčiw continues to deliver a masterclass in the Dakar Classic regularity race.

Motorbikes: Honda gains the upper hand

Four years ago, Ricky Brabec won the Dakar while picking up two stage victories along the way. Could the American add a second trophy to his case this year by playing the quiet game again? Riding without fanfare, avoiding blunders and staying in the ideal position to press forward without taking excessive risks, Brabec took over the reins of the rally following the previous special, the sixth of the rally. In the top 3 since day one, the Honda rider has truly come into his own, gaining an edge over his rivals in the dunes of the Empty Quarter. Of course, with another six gruelling stages ahead, his margin of under a minute over Ross Branch is far from guaranteeing him the triumph that he has been chasing for such a long time, not least because there are other riders who are still in the running too. Adrien Van Beveren made hay of the long 48-hour stage in the Saudi sands to narrow his deficit to the lead group. Now third overall at 9′21″, the Frenchman remains a force to be reckoned with going into the second week. So is Nacho Cornejo, the winner of stages 2 and 4, who is just 14 minutes down on his Californian teammate and leader. A bit further down, Toby Price and Kevin Benavides fly the flag for KTM, less than half an hour behind Brabec. The Australian is biding his time, waiting for an opening to launch his attack, while the Argentinian, still grappling with the sequelae of a leg fracture, is picking up steam.

On the flip side, multiple pretenders to the crown saw their hopes and dreams crushed in the opening week. Tosha Schareina, the Spanish rising star who signed for Honda, broke his wrist in the very first stage after bagging the prologue. Meanwhile, Skyler Howes lost plenty of time in the first few stages, eventually bowing out due to mechanical issues in the dunes of the Empty Quarter. Staying with Honda, Pablo Quintanilla was in the lead group when he ran out of fuel during the soul-crushing stage 6 and plummeted down the overall. Other early withdrawals include Sam Sunderland, who succumbed to a mechanical in stage 3; Sherco’s main hope, Lorenzo Santolino; and Joan Barreda, who was tackling his first Dakar with Hero. This leaves Ross Branch without a wingman for the second week of the rally after Joaquim Rodrigues and Sebastian Bühler crashed out of the race. Up against the mighty Honda brigade, the Botswanan will need a hefty dose of luck to overcome the many perils lurking on the road to Yanbu.

Meanwhile, in Rally 2, the incredible Jean-Loup Lepan stormed to the lead after stage 6. The Frenchman, rock-solid since the Dakar got under way, also claimed stages 2 and 6 and, to top it off, he is sitting tenth overall, an hour and a half behind Ricky Brabec. Now second in the standings, Romain Dumontier held the lead for quite a while, but a fuel hiccup in stage 6 cost him a loss of 50 minutes to Lepan. Nursing a broken rib, the winner of the 2023 Rally-Raid World Cup will have to grit his teeth all the way to Yanbu to snag a spot on the final podium. Harith Noah, Paolo Lucci and Bradley Cox are piling on the pressure within half an hour of the leader. Heinz Kidigadner‘s young nephew Tobias Ebster is another man to watch. The Austrian is perched at the top of the Original by Motul leader board and clinched stage 5 in the Rally 2 class. He will be the talk of the town for a long time to come.