Harith Noah’s stunning speed gets him 19th on Stage 11

Bisha (Saudi Arabia), 13 Jan. 2022: TVS Racing Factory rider Harith Noah attacked Dakar Rally stage with vengeance on the penultimate day, a day after he was forced to pull out of the main event due to the engine failure. The stunning performance by 28-year ace from India got him into the top-20 in the Stage rankings, but his bravery will not be counted for the final classification as he moved to the Dakar Experience class on Thursday, to log more kilometres and experience.

The last long stage proved to be one of the toughest Timed Specials, and Hairth Noah brought home his Sherco 450 SEF Rally bike in an excellent 19th place. His best stage time in 2021 was also P19. Today’s 346-kilometer special with difficult navigation gave him to showcase his skills and make up many positions and finish in top-20 without the pressure of official classification for Dakar RallyGP class.

The stage was won by Argentina’s Kevin Benavides, who also moved to Dakar Experience class, after his pull out yesterday. But the biggest achievement for India on Thursday was the stage podium finish by Hero MotoSports Joaquim Rodrigues, who came third behind S Sunderland of Great Britain.

The ace Kerala rider began the day’s Stage 11 on an aggressive note zooming into the sixth place at the first WayPoint after 48 kilometres. Later, he lost some ground in the next 120 km, but stepped up the pace and was running at 17th position for long, before settling for 19th position in Stage 11, equalling his best stage performance at Dakar in 2021.

Dakar Experience is a new class, introduced a few years back, as a second chance for those who are forced to quit the main race. It helps participants to experience the Dakar Rally and gain valuable seat-time and log mileage to prepare for the future races. However, the riders will not be classified for Rally GP class and will finish under ‘Dakar Experience’ arch.

Sherco TVS Rally Factory teammate of Noah, Lorenzo Santolino continued his good show finishing the stage in 18th place, just a position ahead of Noah while the other Sherco TVS rider Rui Goncalves was placed 30th in the stage. Santolino was 12th and Goncalves was 24th in the Overall general rankings. JRod is on Overall 14th rank and Aaron Mare, who finished the day 25th was in P16 Overall.

“”It was not an ideal day but I had fun and felt very good on bike. I had to stop multiple times, and also after 60km, I had another crash. But the difficult navigation helped me do well without any pressure. This experience will help me to come back stronger for next year,” said Noah after covering a strenuous 501 km, including liaison today from Wadi Ad Dawasir to Bisha. The loop around Bisha, had the potential to turn shake the best riders with huge dunes, as it provided the biggest technical challenge to many a rider.  Harith Noah spent about half of the stage time on the dunes of all shapes and sizes including the softest ones that the desert had in store but his exploits could only get him rich experience in preparation for future rally-raids and no reward for his hard work. Undaunted, the Sports Science graduate vows to come back stronger next year.

The final timed Special Section on the last day will be from Bisha to Jeddah, a distance of 680km including liaison section. And the scene is set for the last big fight on Friday!