The Tricolour Flies High at Dakar 2024

The world's toughest Rally Raid just concluded in Saudi Arabia, with TVS-backed rider Harith Noah from Kerala winning the Rally 2 class for motorcycles, a first for an Indian rider. The Indian flag was also flying high on the main motorcycle podium when Ross Branch from Botswana, riding a Hero MotoSports 450 Rally took second place overall in the Rally GP class which was also second overall position for motorcycles. The best finish ever for an Indian manufacturer. 

This year he seems to have had a dream race for Harith, starting off steady in the first half of the race and coming on strong in the second week of racing. In fact, on stage 10 after 343 kilometres of racing, he was the fastest rider of the day on the dunes, ahead of two-time winner Ricky Brabec (who went on to win the overall title this time around as well).

Harith’s strategy was a bit strange, though. He didn't look at his results at all, not even keeping up with social media. He just focused on doing his best day after day, kilometre after kilometre. Even at the finish, after he had won, he only had a rough idea that he was in the top three. His performance also saw him not only get the first win in his class but also finish a very commendable eleventh overall in the motorcycle category. 

India’s participation in the Dakar was pioneered by CS Santosh, the first Indian to ever finish the gruelling race. Harith followed in his footsteps and was the second Indian to finish, and has previously bagged the best ever result by an Indian rider, that of twentieth in the 2021 edition of the rally. Hence, this is a dream result for Harith, considering that he didn't finish in 2022 and 2023, with an especially serious crash last year that injured his back and took him out of contention.

Hero MotoSports have also been working hard at Dakar since 2016. They fielded a strong team this year and their hard work has paid off with Ross Branch finishing second place overall. In fact he was actually in the overall lead after stage 5. However, solid pressure from the trio of Honda riders saw his lead slip away in the second half of the race.