Harith Noah finishes Stage2 in 27th for an Overall 32 rank; Hero’s JRod 6th today
Ha’il to Qaisumah (Saudi Arabia), 3 Jan. 2022: Sherco TVS Rally Factory team rider Harith Noah KV passed another tough test admirably to successfully complete Stage 2 improving his performance on the day to finish in the top-30 and improved his Overall ranking to 32 in the Moto RallyGP class of Dakar 2022 on Monday. The day also saw superb performance by Hero MotoSport Team Rally riders Aaron Mare of South Africa and Joaquim Rodriques of Portugal, who finished in the top-10 today. Mare took an Overall 11th and JRod 18th while Sherco TVS Factory Rally team’s rider Spaniard Lorenzo Santolino ended the day with a brilliant overall sixth position despite a 16th today. Rui Goncalves of Portugal, the third Sherco rider was 12th after leading the rally today for a while.
The 28-year Kerala rider, went steady with his navigation and completed the tough course which had chips underneath the vast sands, and kept up tempo clocking 4hours, 3min, 15sconds on Day 3, which meant that he is behind the leader Joan Barreda Bort of Monster Energy Honda by 31min, 55sec. In the overall ranking, he is placed 32nd after three days and two stages. The Shoranur star is backed by TVS, Sherco, Scott India and CamelBak, India. He took 9:40:35 for the total Special Section distance of two stages and is behind by 1:09:06 to the leader Sam Sunderland, who came second today. Overnight leader Australian Daniel Sanders, who finished 23rd today, however, will continue with a ranking of Overall third behind Adrien Van Beveren of France.
Meanshile, Noah’s teammate Lorenzo Santolino who finished 16th today clocking 3:46:50 took an overall ranking of sixth, the best at this stage by a rider associated with Indian name, the Sherco TVS Factory Rally Team. The third Sherco member 36-year Rui Goncalves did a brilliant job leading the pact at one point, but ultimately lost the way with a penalty and finished Day 3 at 12th position, taking an Overall ranking of 48th.
Harith Noah, who trained for three months in Europe to fine tune his navigational and road book skills arrived in Saudi Arabia with his engineer Prakasam and both after two COVID19 tests settled down without any quarantine requirements and Harith Noah is pooled with Goncalves in the same truck for service by Sherco.
Astride a brand new Sherco 450 SEF Rally bike, the Indian suffered initial glitches in the short qualifying stage 1A, where a navigational error and a fall cost him precious time but he recovered in time and pulled on bravely to finish a creditable 36th. That meant that he is not in the top-15, who selected their start order for the actual long-distance Specials that began on Jan 2 with a 333-km tough section. He kept up the tempo and finished 27th to improve his overall ranking to 34. Today he again did well to finish 27th and an overall 32nd ranking.
| POS. | N° | EXP. | DRIVE-TEAM | MARK-MODEL | TIME | VARIATION | PENALITY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 88 | (ESP) JOAN BARREDA BORT | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA | 03H 31′ 20” | |||
| 2 | 3 | (GBR) SAM SUNDERLAND | GASGAS FACTORY RACING | 03H 36′ 53” | + 00H 05′ 33” | ||
| 3 | 1 | (ARG) KEVIN BENAVIDES | RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING | 03H 37′ 14” | + 00H 05′ 54” | ||
| 4 | 5 | (USA) SKYLER HOWES | HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING | 03H 37′ 36” | + 00H 06′ 16” | ||
| 5 | 18 | (AUS) TOBY PRICE | RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING | 03H 38′ 20” | + 00H 07′ 00” | ||
| 6 | 27 | (PRT) JOAQUIM RODRIGUES | HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY | 03H 41′ 38” | + 00H 10′ 18” | ||
| 7 | 142 | (SVK) STEFAN SVITKO | SLOVNAFT RALLY TEAM | 03H 41′ 52” | + 00H 10′ 32” | ||
| 8 | 42 | (FRA) ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN | MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM | 03H 42′ 54” | + 00H 11′ 34” | ||
| 9 | 29 | (USA) ANDREW SHORT | MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM | 03H 43′ 22” | + 00H 12′ 02” | ||
| 10 | 6 | (ZAF) AARON MARE | HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY | 03H 43′ 57” | + 00H 12′ 37” | ||
| 11 | 10 | (CZE) MARTIN MICHEK | ORION – MOTO RACING GROUP | 03H 44′ 38” | + 00H 13′ 18” | ||
| 12 | 19 | (PRT) RUI GONÇALVES | SHERCO TVS RALLY FACTORY | 03H 45′ 08” | + 00H 13′ 48” | ||
| 13 | 11 | (CHL) JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA | 03H 45′ 46” | + 00H 14′ 26” | ||
| 14 | 52 | (AUT) MATTHIAS WALKNER | RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING | 03H 45′ 51” | + 00H 14′ 31” | ||
| 15 | 2 | (USA) RICKY BRABEC | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA | 03H 46′ 24” | + 00H 15′ 04” | ||
| 16 | 15 | (ESP) LORENZO SANTOLINO | SHERCO TVS RALLY FACTORY | 03H 46′ 50” | + 00H 15′ 30” | ||
| 17 | 77 | (ARG) LUCIANO BENAVIDES | HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING | 03H 52′ 41” | + 00H 21′ 21” | ||
| 18 | 24 | (FRA) CAMILLE CHAPELIERE | TEAM BAINES RALLY | 03H 52′ 54” | + 00H 21′ 34” | ||
| 19 | 17 | (ESP) JOAN PEDRERO GARCIA | RIEJU – FN SPEED TEAM | 03H 53′ 51” | + 00H 22′ 31” | ||
| 20 | 22 | (POL) MACIEJ GIEMZA | ORLEN TEAM | 03H 54′ 29” | + 00H 23′ 09” | ||
| 21 | 54 | (BOL) DANIEL NOSIGLIA JAGER | RIEJU – FN SPEED TEAM | 03H 55′ 08” | + 00H 23′ 48” | ||
| 22 | 16 | (BWA) ROSS BRANCH | MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM | 03H 55′ 49” | + 00H 24′ 29” | ||
| 23 | 4 | (AUS) DANIEL SANDERS | GASGAS FACTORY RACING | 03H 56′ 18” | + 00H 24′ 58” | ||
| 24 | 23 | (CZE) JAN BRABEC | STROJRENT RACING | 03H 59′ 49” | + 00H 28′ 29” | ||
| 25 | 49 | (ZAF) BRADLEY COX | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | 04H 00′ 55” | + 00H 29′ 35” | ||
| 26 | 7 | (CHL) PABLO QUINTANILLA | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA | 04H 02′ 13” | + 00H 30′ 53” | ||
| 27 | 20 | (IND) HARITH NOAH KOITHA VEETTIL | SHERCO TVS RALLY FACTORY | 04H 03′ 15” | + 00H 31′ 55” |
[…] Read the Indian report here. […]