Toby Price won his ninth race in the Finke Desert
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 |
#Toby #Price #wins #ninth #Finke #Desert #Race #crown #Speedcafe
