Harith Noah finishes Stage 5 in P20; gets P7 in Rally2 class
Shubaytah (Saudi Arabia), 10 January 2024: Sherco TVS Factory team rider Harith Noah, completed another strong run finishing Stage 5 in P20 and was in 18th place in the Provisional General Classification while taking the P7 slot in his class, the Rally2 category where he is currently in Overall P4 after six days (including the Prologue) and five stages at the Dakar Rally 2024 on Wednesday.
The fifth stage from Al-Hofuf to Shubaytah had a total distance of 645 km, including 118 km of special and 527 km of liaison consisting mainly of sandy dunes.
Earlier on Tuesday, Harith Noah continued his strong run with a P21 in Stage 4. He finished P5 in his class, the Rally2 category for bikes.
The Kerala rider is preparing for Stage 6, another marathon stage which will last for 48 hours. Tomorrow evening, the riders will not have any outside assistance, no internet connection, no news, no information. The sixth stage of the Dakar will be from Shubaytah to Shubaytah, 626 km of special and 209 km of liaison.
Harith Noah said: “It was a short stage and only made up of dunes. I felt good, but I had a little problem, sand slipped into my fuel during refueling. I am very happy to cross the finish line today. Now it’s time to rest and recover well before the marathon stage that starts tomorrow!”
Noah’s teammate at Sherco, Rui Gonçalves rode in the top-10 for part of the special. He was however the victim of a fall in a dune, he left with pain in his thumb, had to reconnect the navigation system which had been moved out of position because of the fall. He lost contact with the race leaders and ended up finishing the day in 18th position. He managed the navigation well and found the right pace again from the start. He is 15th in the provisional general classification.
Brand new concept of 48hours
Thursday’s stage will be an unprecedented challenge that has the competitors quaking in their boots. While this is also a two-day stage, the experience of marathon stages will not be of much use in the new paradigm of the 48-hour chrono stage. Imagine the grandiose clang of a bell filling the twilight air in the Empty Quarter, ordering every single competitor to halt their vehicle and spend the night under the starry skies before getting back on the move at sunrise. This is how this new challenge will work. The time limit is 4pm. When the clock strikes four, the entrants will have to stop at the next of the six rest areas that punctuate the course of the special. Once they get there, the competitors will receive bare-bones camping material and just enough provisions to make it through the night in the desert, without any connection and, therefore, without any information on how their rivals are doing. Cut off from the rest of the world.
Never before have the title contenders in the motorbike category spent eight hours in a special. The Empty Quarter, with dunes as far as the eye can see, will set the scene for this historic first. The race is no stranger to this area, but the difficulty of this larger-than- life special has been kicked up a notch. Chotts will give the competitors some time to breathe between one dune chain and the next. However, the navigation will be fiendishly difficult, with hard-to-find courses and hidden WPs that will drive many entrants round the bend: “I won’t be winning any popularity contests,” sighs David Castera. In fact, his old brothers in arms in the car category will face the same challenge as the two-wheelers. The FIA and FIM entrants will follow separate courses, so the co-drivers will have to do without the motorbikes’ traces”.
Stage 5 Ranking
Rui Gonçalves: P18
Harith Noah: P20
Provisional general classification
Rui Gonçalves: P15
Harith Noah: P18
