Dakar 2022: Harith Noah shows resilience to take 26th spot after Stage 8

Wadi Ad Dawasir (Saudi Arabia), Jan 10 (IANS) TVS Racing Factory rider Harith Noah pocketed another stage as he showed enough resilience after initial hiccups and completed Stage 8 in his inimitable style, pushing hard towards the end as he gained two more positions in the overall ranking.

The Kerala ace is sitting pretty at 26th position in the general rankings after finishing 26th on Monday. The stage was won by Sam Sunderland of Great Britain. Noah clocked 4 hours, 12 minutes, and 30 seconds to complete the timed special of almost 400 km.

Starting at 22nd on Monday and treading a cautious path for the first 86 km in the long liaisons, and action-packed dunes, the 5-time Indian National Supercross champion saw the trek to southern Saudi Arabia and its tough sands, drag on, and lost about 10 places.

Undaunted, he progressed later on, even as the minds and bodies of the competitors were put to a hard test. Noah attacked the next 200 kms of the special, and by WayPoint 6, he moved up and further improved thereafter as he jumped from one valley to another. Eventually, the landscape changed and the tough negotiator ended up the day in a respectable 26th in the stage after traversing a distance of 820 km, which got him an overall 26th position, two places better than the previous day.

Competing in RallyGP, the premier class of the Moto section in the 44th Dakar Rally, Harith Noah, who had a tough first week due to extreme cold conditions and a couple of falls, has come into his own and is looking forward to the last four stages.

Astride a Sherco 450 SEF Rally Shoranur, the rider said: "I enjoyed the stage for the second day running and I am getting into my rhythm. It was a long and tough day but I like tricky navigation like this stage. I am still in the race and glad to be fighting another stage tomorrow."

There are four more stages left in the Dakar Rally that concludes on January 14.