Toby Price has won the 2022 Tatts Finke Desert Race, claiming outright victory in Monday’s run to Alice Springs.
The third round of the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship, Price completed the iconic event in record time.
Alongside co-driver Jason Duncan, Price made the return journey in a combined time of 3 hours, 21 minutes and 46 seconds, two minutes ahead of second place finisher Aaron James who made the voyage solo again in 2022, competing without a navigator.
Brent Martin and Ben Dawson ended the race in third rounding out the podium.
Price, who now has eight Finke wins to his name across cars and bikes, was understandably thrilled with the victory.
“We’re stoked and it was a good run back,” Price said.
“We didn’t push, we didn’t do anything crazy, I just can’t thank my crew enough for all their efforts.
“We had a really good run yesterday, and the hardest part is that you don’t know what’s going on behind you. You push really hard, and the boys have done a great job with the truck… everything has turned out really good.”
In the KINCROME SXS Motorsport Australia Championship, Peter Carr and Matthew Wyndham claimed honours in class, edging out James Cook and Mitch Aucote, with Jeff McNiven and Jake Nicholson third in class.
While Carr won the SXS Turbo class, it was another strong showing from SXS Sport winners John Wisse and Emily Brandle.
Price understandably saluted in Extreme 2WD, while in Extreme 4WD it was an epic outing for Hayden Bentley and Hannah Bentley took class honours.
Pro buggy class honours went to Aaron James with his second outright, while Shannon Rentsch and Ian Rentsch enjoyed a welcome return to Finke with second in class, ahead of Tyler Owen and Max Owen.
It was a big weekend in the Prolite class, Martin’s outright podium saw him secure a hard earned class win.
For Production 4WD, Jodie Allen was the only classified finisher of the three entrants.
While in Production 2WD, Chris Pickert was the fastest of all in class.
Sportslite honours belonged to Rodney Visser, while S1650 saw Simon Tucker the only entrant to finish and secure a class victory.
In the end, only 82 entrants would finish the endurance race, highlighting the difficult nature of the historic desert race.
The next round of the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship takes place in South Australia, with the Can-Am Loveday 400 taking place on 30-31 July.
Photos: Dakar Press Team Australia
