Australia’s best off roaders descend on Finke

It is the jewel in the crown of Australian off road racing, and the 2025 instalment of the Tatts Finke Desert Race promises to deliver in a big way.

More than 100 entrants will field the cars division of the 49^th annual Tatts Finke Desert Race for 2025, in what serves as round two of the five-stop BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship.

Together with a stacked field of almost 400 bikes, car entrants will be vowing to be crowned the 2025 King of the Desert – appropriately held on the King’s Birthday long weekend in June.

There are so many talking points ahead of this year’s Finke race, but it’s hard to go past the showdown brewing in the coveted trophy truck classes.

Reigning Finke winner Beau Robinson will do battle with his brother, Travis Robinson – the 2023 AORC champion – in this year’s Extreme 2WD class and potentially for overall honours.

Travis arrives at the start line in Alice Springs with a freshly built Extreme 4WD trophy truck, meaning he will pivot from his previous Pro Buggy entry into the new 7.0-litre Mason machine.

Meanwhile Beau will partner once again with navigator Shane Hutt in a bid to emulate their 2024 success.

Elsewhere, 2024 Finke runners-up Brett Comiskey and Billy Geddes will share driving duties once again aboard their ex-Toby Price Extreme 2WD trophy truck, while Brent Smoothy, Andrew Commins, Nick Commins and the prodigious young Kiwi talent that is Boston Morgan-Horan are all chasing maiden Finke success.

But that’s only one side of the 2025 Finke Desert Race front-runners.

In the Pro Buggy field, father and son, Andy and Danny Brown will field separate entries at Finke after strong respective showings at the Pooncarie season-opener of the AORC.

They will have their work cut out, with Nic Hicks, Joshua Howells, Aaron James, Matt Hanson, Jared Percival and many others completing a stacked Pro Buggy field.

After missing the first round of the AORC in Pooncarie, Queenslander Glenn Brinkman will be hoping to open his points account in the hotly contested SXS Championship. Brinkman will resume battle with old foes including Glen Ackroyd, Lachlan Bailey, Daniel Challen and Greg Campbell. Ackroyd currently leads the SXS Championship after his Pooncarie victory over Lachlan Bailey.

In the Production 4WD, Americans Brad and Adam Lovell return to the red centre in a bid to go three Finke production class wins in a row aboard the Ford Ranger.

This year’s Finke event will also be a family affair for Sam Bentley and his two children, Hayden and Hannah Bentley.

The South Australian trio will run three entries, with Sam contesting the Sportslite category, Hannah in the Extreme 2WD class and Hayden steering an Extreme 4WD trophy truck.

The 2025 Tatts Finke Desert Race formalities begin on Wednesday June 4 with a Welcome to Finke Party at Lasseters Casino. The traditional Finke Street Party will be held on Thursday, while traditional scrutineering takes place on the start/finish line precinct from 4pm on Friday.

On-track action begins Saturday morning with the Method Race Wheels Prologue, from 6am local time.

That will determine the all-important starting order for Sunday’s Race Day one, where competitors will embark on the circa 226km journey to the remote Indigenous community of Aputula, or Finke.

On Monday, competitors will set out on the 226km return leg, finishing in Alice Springs.

2025 Tatts Finke Desert Race Entry List