Toby Price wins ninth Finke Desert Race crown – Speedcafe

Toby Price won his third straight win in the Cars division of Australia’s blue ribbon off-road race and his ninth victory in the Tatts Finke Desert Race.

The four-wheeled field continues back to Alice Springs on the 226km course, with Price and co-driver Jason Duncan clocking 1:43:11.239s for Leg 2, for a total race time of 3:21:46.628s in the #487 Trophy Truck.

At this stage, Greg Gartner is second and classified in the Extreme 2WD class, with their positions unlikely to change, while Travis Robinson is third and first in Pro Buggy.

In Saturday’s Prologue at Alice Springs, Price qualified to lead the field to Aputula (Finke) by 2.257 seconds over Beau Robinson (Extreme 2WD).

He clocked a time of 1:38:35.389 seconds, putting three and a half minutes on the field after the first half of the race was completed correctly, with Travis Robinson his closest challenger at the overnight stop.

Margins were better on the way back, with Price and Gartner setting a torrid pace.

In fact, the former shaved just four-tenths of a second off the record event time he set 364 days earlier.

“It’s a dream come true to win for the first time and then say I have nine 1686544579 wild,” said Price, whose other six King of the Desert titles have come on KTM motorcycles.

“We ran really well, the truck did a great job, my crew did a great job – I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Gartner was 56.232 seconds slower in the rematch, with a total time of 3:27:48.880 seconds, which moved him from fourth to second in the Finke 2023 finish.

Travis Robinson’s podium meant he extended his lead in the Polaris Motorsport Australia Offroad Championship, while Brent Martin missed out on the top three by less than 11 seconds but won the Prolite Buggy class.

Beau Robinson (Extreme 2WD) rounded out the top five after making up four positions after a crash en route to Aputula, with Shannon Rentch (Pro Buggy), Mark Burroughs (Pro Buggy), Phil Lovett rounding out the top ten. (Extreme 4WD), Michael Dolan (Extreme 2WD) and Kent Battle (Pro Buggy).

The first bike should arrive in Alice Springs around 13:45/14:15 AEST local time.

Round 4 of the Motorsport Australian Off-Road Championship is the Loveday 400 from July 28-30.

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Toby Price is the king of the desert 👑🏆

A great performance from start to finish with navigator Jason Duncan 👏

This is Toby’s 3rd win in cars and 9th overall! @tobyprice87 #Finkeshol competition #Finke2023 pic.twitter.com/SFOkAn25MW

— TattsFinkeDesertRace (@FinkeDesertRace) June 11, 2023

Results: 2023 Finke Desert Race Top 10

Post office	No	Driver	Class	1 time a day	2 times a day	Time
1	487	Toby Price	04 – EXTREME 2WD	01:38:35.389	01:43:11.239	03:21:46.628
2	410	Greg Gartner	04 – EXTREME 2WD	01:43:41.409	01:44:07.471	03:27:48.880
3	13	Travis Robinson	00 – PRO BUGGY	01:42:19.723	01:51:54.891	03:34:14.614
4	120	Brent Martin	01 – PROLITE BUGGY	01:46:49.121	01:47:36.156	03:34:25.277
5	413	Bo Robinson	04 – EXTREME 2WD	01:50:17.661	01:44:35.873	03:34:53.534
6	33	Shannon Rentsch	00 – PRO BUGGY	01:43:24.479	01:52:33.094	03:35:57.573
7	21	Mark Burroughs	00 – PRO BUGGY	01:48:31.840	01:48:00.663	03:36:32.503
8	897	Phil Lovett	08 – EXTREME 4WD	01:50:41.040	01:50:24.388	03:41:05.428
9	455	Michael Dolan	04 – EXTREME 2WD	01:52:04.861	01:50:38.819	03:42:43.680
10	31	Battle of Kent	00 – PRO BUGGY	01:51:56.987	01:51:48.659	03:43:45.646