Al Qaisumah (Saudi Arabia), Jan 4 (MotorSports) Lone Indian rider in fray, Harith Noah of Sherco TVS Rally Factory team, finished a creditable 29th in stage 3 of the 44th Dakar Rally, which saw Joaquim Rodrigues of Hero MotoSports Team win his maiden stage of the gruelling off-road race.
The steady ride helped the only Indian rider in this year's Dakar to improve his overall ranking to 31st position in RallyGP class, the premier category in the Moto section with an overall timing of 12:29.46s.
Noah successfully completed stage 3 in 2 hours, 49 minutes and 11 seconds.
Portuguese rider Rodriques of Hero MotoSports Team Rally clinched his maiden Dakar stage, clocking 2 hours, 34 minutes and 41 seconds ahead of Australian Toby Price of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, who clocked 2:23.44s and USA's Mason Klein (2:35.55s) of Bas Dakar KTM Racing Team.
Monster Energy Honda Team's Joan Barreda had won the second stage, where Hero MotoSports Team Rally’s riders finished in the top 10 here.
Barreda now holds a tally of 28 Dakar Rally stage wins. His teammate Pablo Quintanilla finished 23rd.
Hero MotoSports' Joaquim Rodrigues and Aaron Mare delivered an impressive run in the long stage 2 with the former finishing in sixth place and Mare ending 10th in the Rally GP class.
Starting on a loop around Al Qaysumah, Noah initially took the 214-km link section of 255-km special but lost a few minutes after the first way point.
However, astride a Sherco 450 SEF rally, he made up many places with steady navigation in the next special sections, and consolidated his position before returning along a 166-km link route for a respectable 29th spot finish.
After three stages, Great Britain's Sam Sunderland of Gasgas Factory Racing is holding the overall lead clocking 11:13.4s, while Frechmen Adrien van Beveren of Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team is second and Austrian Matthias Walkner of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing is third.
Nine more stages will be run with a rest day on January 8.
Noah, a 28-year-old Sports Science graduate from Kerala who made his debut in 2020, is on his third Dakar campaign.
He ended an overall 20th last January.
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News Source : PTI
