AATISH MISHRA
LENTY OF DAKAR COVERAGE IN THIS issue of evo India — the Ed's editorial is about the Dakar, fellow columnist Vijay Parmar (rightfully) rants about the race not being broadcast in India, and Vaishali Dinakaran who was on the sidelines of the race this year has written two beautiful pieces profiling Hero MotorSports and Harith Noah. Overkill? Not at all. Because not enough can be said about the achievements of both. The Dakar is an immensely tall mountain to climb — 14 days of the harshest conditions one can take a motorbike across. Finishing itself is an achievement worth sipping bubbly over — only 96 out of 132 riders did so this year. To do well against the might of the factory teams that have decades of rally experience, and riders who have been riding for as long as they could walk, to get on the podium overall, to win… Win!, Rally 2 — Indian motorsport has never shined brighter on the global stage.
At this point, I really can’t add more to what Vaishali has already written about Hero’s journey at the Dakar. But for an Indian manufacturer to stay the course, despite the challenges that it faced, is commendable. Losing Paulo in 2020, C S’s head injury must not have been easy to deal with — incidents like this, without too much real success, would have had them questioning their reasons to stick on. But this year was different. The cheery Ross Branch, smile on this face and throttle wide open, flew through Saudi Arabia and on to the podium despite the onslaught of Hondas around him. Catching up with Wafi in India after the race, he told us about how tricky it was to keep at it with just one bike still in the running for the entire second half of the rally. The Hondas could use different strategies, but Ross just had the one. It was really just that one day where Ross lost 7 minutes to Brabec that cost him the win, but his race was flawless otherwise. Wafi also mentioned how it was so important that Hero had stayed consistent with their support all these years. Not too many factories stay the course and that consistency allowed them to build the team, the bike, the knowhow to be able to challenge the rally raid establishment.
While we were at Hero World at the CIT in Jaipur just days after the race, Branch put on a show on this 450 rally bike with Hero’s team of riders who compete in the Indian national championship in tow. This win should do nothing but reinforce Hero’s commitment to racing on the big stage, but I also hope it puts winds in the sails of the Hero MotoSports team right here in India, and when they’re ready, give the Indian riders a platform to step it up on the global stage.
After all, Harith has shown it can work. That Harith is just 30 — one year older than me — makes his achievement seem all the more incredible. He’s obviously worked his arse off to get where he has, but he’s done so with a fraction of the resources some of the other riders out there have. He’s had a few tough outings at the Dakar, particularly last year where he fractured a vertebra. Thankfully a full recovery saw him back at the start line and staying competitive. C S may have been the first Indian at the Dakar and the most doggedly determined, but Harith has been able to outperform both him and ex-TVS Racing teammate Aravind K P, without a shadow of doubt. His 20th place finish was the highest ever for an Indian and showed his skill, temperament and ability on the motorcycle. This year, was another level. Finishing a stage in 5th place overall, staying consistently with the top pack in Rally 2 and then eclipsing them towards the end to take the top step — what an achievement. Fun fact about Harith: he practices his road book navigation on the Dakar Playstation game to keep his mind sharp. Just goes to show how committed he is, and doesn’t let the fact that he doesn’t have access to real-world road book practice stop him from getting better.
It is heartening to see the Indian flag flying high on the world stage. I’m sure both the Hero team and Harith are enjoying some well deserved rest right now, but they will have plenty of positive takeaways. The rest of the year’s world rally raid championship calendar should be even more exciting for Indian motorsport fans, as will be the hype around the next Dakar. Maybe we’ll even get a live broadcast next year? One can hope! ⌧
He told us about how tricky it was to keep at it with just one bike still in the running
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