2024 Dakar Rally: Harith Noah becomes first Indian Dakar champion in Rally2

Romain Dumontier had all of the momentum getting into the 2024 Dakar Rally because the defending Rally2 winner and World Rally-Raid Champion. Harith Noah had different plans.

Dumontier’s quest for a repeat started on a powerful observe when he gained the Prologue earlier than taking the general lead in Stage #2 and held it till a poor Chrono Stage by which he ran out of gas on the primary day and completed twelfth dropped him all the way down to second. Nonetheless, Jean-Loup Lepan acquired a penalty the next day for lacking a waypoint that allowed Dumontier to inherit the lead.

When the rally entered its ultimate three days, Dumontier’s benefit solely continued to develop into the double digits. Noah, the Stage #8 winner, was third and trailed Dumontier by over eleven minutes after the ninth.

Because it turned out, Noah had Dumontier proper the place he needed him. A dominant Stage #10 win propelled him previous Lepan for second whereas Dumontier missed the stage podium after breaking a swingarm axle bolt simply thirty kilometres from the end, slicing the hole between one another to 4:31. Noah then completed runner-up to Bradley Cox in Stage #11 whereas Dumontier struggled to a fifth after a tough day by which he punctured each tyres initially of the stage then crashed into rocks within the closing sixty kilometres, forcing him to trip with a damaged rib and no brakes. Dumontier completed fifth, shedding the result in Noah.

Getting into the ultimate day, Dumontier wanted to make up six minutes to beat Noah. Though he completed forward of Noah with a runner-up effort to Noah’s fifth, Noah—whose Stage #12 time was apparently an identical to Cox’s—was solely fifty-six seconds slower than Dumontier and secured the victory. His time was eleventh greatest amongst all bikes no matter class, 5:47 behind the RallyGP bike of Martin Michek.

Noah is the primary Indian to win a Dakar Rally total, whereas he scored the maiden triumph for Sherco. Though clearly a second to cherish perpetually, he admitted he didn’t count on it to be so profitable.

“I had no expectations after I arrived. I needed to only trip my bike with out actually wanting on the outcomes,” Noah defined. “I began to be very shocked by my place throughout Stage #10, after I did the fifth greatest time of the particular. I don’t actually know what occurred throughout that week, I felt good and the bike ran completely. I hope that my victory will persuade many younger individuals to hitch the rally. I didn’t think about after I was a toddler that I’d come to the Dakar, that I’d first end twentieth, and now eleventh.”

Regardless of settling for second, Dumontier exits the Dakar because the World Rally-Raid Championship factors chief as Noah shouldn’t be registered for the championship. Noah and tenth-placed Milan Engel are the one riders within the Rally2 high ten who aren’t racing for factors.

“I attempted not to surrender regardless of the challenges I confronted: a gas breakdown that price me virtually one hour, minor accidents, and different small mechanical points that price me treasured minutes right here and there. However it’s the Dakar, something can occur and we all know it, and that’s why I by no means wish to reveal my ambitions an excessive amount of earlier than the beginning of this race,” commented Dumontier.

Mário Patrão completed seventeenth and clinched the Veteran’s Trophy for riders over the age of forty-five. On the alternative excessive, Konrad Dąbrowski was twelfth to say the Junior Trophy for these twenty-five and below; Dąbrowski made his Dakar return after lacking the 2023 race resulting from appendicitis. Enduro World Enduro Champion Jane Daniels duelled Yael Kadshai for the Girls’s Trophy and gained by default as she reached the end whereas Kadshai retired after 9 levels.

Regardless of racing with out help from groups, Tobias Ebster gained Stage #5 en path to ending eighth total and topping the Authentic by Motul (often known as Malle Moto) subcategory. His effort earned him Rookie honours. Benjamin Melot and Javi Vega have been additionally solo riders, however weren’t scored in Authentic by Motul as they have been now not eligible for the amateur-only division.

Rally2 total outcomes

Rally2 stage winners