Harith Noah finishes Prologue in 29th place; Ashish Raorane 73rd
AlUla (Saudi Arabia) 29 Dec. 2023: The fastest Dakar rider representing India, Harith Noah, began his fifth Dakar cautiously but finished in 29th place in the Prologue. With 142 riders taking the start in the Dakar, it was a creditable show that rules his starting position for the Stage 1 on Day 1 tomorrow, the 6th January 2024. But in his Rally2 class, Harith Noah finished a noteworthy 9th place clocking at time of 21 minutes, 14 seconds, about 1min 31sec, behind the leader in his class.
Harith Noah said: “The prologue was short and sandy with tricky navigation. I had to turn around to get a waypoint, but I didn’t waste too much time. This is the usual for the prologue, but it’s over now and I’m looking forward to stage 1 tomorrow”.
The clock started today for the participants in the 2024 Dakar with the prologue. They had to race on a 27-km course through canyons around AlUla. The Sherco riders did not take any risks and approached the prologue as a warm-up before the real start and the first stage tomorrow, 127-km liaison and 414 km of special from AlUla to Al Henakiyah.
The journey once again began as a Team Sherco TVS Factory Rally rider, Noah, who became the fastest at Dakar, scoring a note-worthy top-20 performance in 2022 bettering the result of CS Santosh, is all set to overcome the drawback he suffered last year. Other Sherco riders, Lorenzo Santolino finished the Prologue at P12 while the third rider, Rui Goncalves ended the opening day at P18.
Ashish Raorane, the second Indian
The other Indian rider, Pune privateer Ashish Raorane, managed to finish P73 in his class, the Rally2. He clocked a time of 31min, 25sec.
Ashish Raorane’ is no factory rider. He spends most of his time on boats as a marine engineer. As a kid he started riding on the old rusty bike of his father. Several decades later he was participating in a cross-country rally in the Himalayas that gave him that taste and desire for the Dakar. Inspired by CS Santosh, the first Indian biker to start and finish the Dakar (back in 2015), he wanted to prove to his fellow compatriots that the Dakar wasn’t only for top factory riders. A very competitive table-tennis player back in his youth, he wanted to show that a normal biker could give it a go. Sadly that first Dakar in 2021 ended as soon as stage 5 when the Indian from Mumbai crashed out. He was able however to continue in the Dakar Experience all the way to Jeddah but that certainly wasn’t what he was hoping for. Three years later Raorane has decided to return for unfinished business. This time the 42-year-old will be part of the Xraids Experience team. An option he hopes will this time help him achieve his dream.
How it all began for Ashish!
“A friend of mine was at home and he showed me a documentary about the Baja 1000. We were both fascinated. That’s what pushed me to compete in Baja races in India. In 2015, I did my first cross-country rally in the Himalayas. I then built on that experience with the aim to one day do the Dakar. I followed the Dakar thanks to CS Santosh. He was an inspiration. I raced with him in India and he’s been very helpful. But it seemed that only Indian factory riders were able to do the Dakar and my idea was to change that perspective and show that a privateer like me can do it. My experience at the first Dakar was bitter sweet. Being my first Dakar, and in the Original by Motul category, I knew it was going to be tough but I was happy with how I was managing my race. The unfortunate accident on stage 5 took me out of the running. My return to the Dakar Rally is the next natural step for me, which ideally should’ve have happened in Dakar 2023 but several factors led to that not happening, ‘’c’est la vie’’. This time I’m racing with Team Xraids Experience from Spain and they’ve provided me excellent support from the beginning of 2023, racing at the Abu Dhabi Desert and through the year after that for preparations. We are working closely now to have the best possible solution for my Dakar’24 campaign”.
Saturday, Stage 1
The tough, action-packed challenge of Stage 1 sets the tone for the 2024 edition. Its course, drawn from scratch in an area with geological features never seen before in the Dakar, will throw the competitors in at the deep end. The field will snake around volcanoes in a palette of mineral hues filled with every shade of grey, from the dimmest to the brightest. Even at this early point in the race, this stage is difficult enough to open big gaps. It has both huge stretches of sands and difficult dunes.
