Flash: Harith Noah, first Indian to finish Dakar Rally in top-20
Yanbu (Saudi Arabia), 15 Jan 2021: Ace Indian rider Harith Noah Koitha Veettil successfully completed the Dakar Rally 2021, the most-challenging and tough endurance rally, the mother of all Cross-Country rallies in the world with aplomb becoming the first Indian to finish in the top-20 after he finished the last and final Stage 12 in 19th place in 2 hours, 43 minutes and 20 seconds to finish the 447-km stage.
Harith Noah, the TVS Racing factory rider, entered the Dakar 2021 as a privateer, with TVS not entering as an official team but only supporting him along with Sherco Rally Factory Team, which provided the service. He bettered the mark of CS Santosh who is the first Indian to finish Dakar in 36th place.
Following in the footsteps of CS Santosh, who competed in seven Dakar rallies and finished three of them, and teammate KP Aravind, who completed the Dakar once, Harith Noah, the Malayalee from Shoranur, achieved the honour in his second attempt but his stunning performance, where he improved after every stage got him as high as 16th in a stage, when he pushed the limits in Stage 10.
Except in Stage 5, where he had a fall and bravely continued to finish the stage in 39, Harith preserved his best and delivered the knock-out punch in the last four stages to achieve top-25 finished which pushed him to a final 20th place, a best by an Indian.
CS Santosh who fell and hit his head in Stage 5 is now hospitalised and fmsci made a statement; “S Santosh was transferred by Air Ambulance from Riyadh to Bengaluru on Thursday. He has been brought out of induced coma successfully. He will continue go to be in CCU and receive treatment.”
On Friday, Harith Noah had issues in Waypoint PK99 where he lost some places but bounced back before he crossed the next waypoint gaining those and reached the ASS closing competitive section in 19th and finished the transport section without any issues to achieve his dream of finishing the Dakar Rally. After Stage 11, Harith Noah said: `Stage 11 was quite difficult. Not so happy with how the day went. Did a good job in beginning but made a few costly mistakes towards the later half. Made a pretty big navigation mistake towards the end and lost about 10 mins or so. Also lost some time because I rode slow in a speed zone that wasn’t there in the GPS and only in the road book. Today, felt physically exhausting, at least in the head. Done with the last long stage and happy to have finished it. On to the next, it’s not over until the last… last km is done.” He tagged the following on his Instagram Account.
@tvsracing_official
@tvsmotorcompany
@sherco_racing_factory
@camelbakindia
@scottsportsindia
Brief Bio of Harith Noah:
Harith Noah had a solid grounding in things that matter and had a fond liking for nature as he studied at Sholai School, in Kodaikanal, an alternate school in Tamil Nadu based on the philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurthy. He started racing local dirt track events at the age of 16, in 2009 while practicing in the backyard of his farm in Shoranur. Later, in 2011 he started taking part in the National supercross championship. He won the title the same year and caught the eye of TVS Factory Racing officials who recruited him in 2012. He is a graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Science, which helps him design his own schedules for fitness training. He has a coach for Mental training, though.
Acheinvements: Harith Noah raced and won his first National Supercross title in 2011 in the SX2 category as a privateer. He won four more national championships winning Group B in 2012, and SX1 in 2014, 2017, and 2018. Thus he became a five-time National champion*, in a way next only to Shyam Kothari, the Promoter who runs the MRF MoGrip Supercross National Championship. Shyam was a famed rider winning seven motocross and rally titles in his hey days. However, both Noah and Shyam won in different classes in different era.
In 2018, Harith Noah raced his first-ever international cross-country race, the Rallye Du Maroc. In 2019, he participated in Baja Aragon and finished 7th overall. In 2020, he finished Dakar Rally in the `Dakar Experience’ Category as his bike stopped on Day 4, but the new rule then allowed him to gain valuable experience, which stood in good stead this year.
Harith Noah’s top-20 in the Dakar Rally, the world’s toughest cross-country rally, will be the new bench mark for all Indians henceforth.
Note*: A National newspaper wrongly reported that Noah won seven national titles. In fact, he won only five and the rider himself confirmed it to this reporter.
