“Extra drive to keep pushing forward”

It took him two editions to learn and adapt but 6 years after CS Santosh, Harith Noah became the second Indian rider to reach the finish of the world’s toughest rally. Not only did he achieve his dream he also managed the best ever performance for an Indian claiming an excellent 20th overall position in 2021. In the footsteps of pioneers Santosh CS and Aravind Prabhakar, the young man from Kerala, but born in Germany had a rather long journey before taking on rallies. It started on his sixteenth birthday when he was given a motorbike. A weekend later, he was racing and although he finished last of that first race, his passion grew. His first encounter with the Dakar came thanks to the video tapes his dad would bring back from his business trips all over the world. He was 5 years old then and far from imagining that he would be on the start line of the 2020 Dakar. Part of the Sherco TVS factory team, Noah’s first encounter with the race was a hard one. He was indeed forced to retire from the rally as soon as day 3 due to technical issues. But thanks to the new “Dakar Experience” that allows competitors to carry on while no longer being in the general classification, he was able to learn and gain experience. For his fourth attempt, after again failing to finish last year, the 29-year old who took part in the Morocco and Andalucia rallies this year, will again be alongside his team mates Lorenzo Santolino and Rui Gonçalves with the goal to once again do better than his starting number 20.

“I got my first bike in 2009 and on the next weekend I was racing in the paddy fields by my house in Kerala. I fell in love with it immediately. Two years later I became national supercross champion in the privateer class. My focus was really on supercross, not the Dakar and then TVS got involved. About the last Dakar, my 3rd attempt, the two weeks got over pretty quick. To be honest I was not satisfied, but I believe this will give me an extra drive to keep pushing forward. It’s another mindset riding a stage at the Dakar with nothing to loose.