PRICE MAKES HISTORY IN FINKE

Toby Price has made history by becoming the first person to win the Finke Desert Race on both two and four wheels.

Already a six-time winner on a motorbike, Price added a win in the car class this year beating BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off-Road Championship leader Josh Howells back to Alice Springs by just seconds.

Price put himself and his Red Bull backed Trophy Truck in an ideal position on yesterday’s run out to Aputula (Finke) setting a record time on the opening leg.

However, the Dakar winner was forced to manage an overheating engine in his brand new truck on the return trip, opening the door for Howells to charge down the gap.

Price held on to take the win by just 22 seconds and claim the ‘King of the Desert’ crown for the seventh time.

West Australian Beau Robinson crossed the line in third, just over four minutes behind Price.

Price was elated to secure his first-ever car win at the iconic event.

“It was a close one,” said Price.

“We’ve been working hard for that one… it’s a dream come true.”

A relieved Price said with Howells on his tail, he had to make a decision to push and hope the engine dramas remained at bay in the final 60km of the race.

“About 100km out, the engine water (temperature) just started fluctuating and having heaps of dramas, so we just tried to preserve it and look after the truck.

“Then Josh (Howells) got on the back of us, and I thought ‘it’s now or never’ and we were either going to cook the motor or get to the finish line. But we’re here.”

Howells, meanwhile, was also proud to have finished the gruelling event in second, alongside navigator Eric Hume.

“We gave it everything we’ve got… I’m stoked to be back on the podium,” Howells explained.

“Credit to my navigator Eric, every call he made was spot on. We don’t run on GPS, we’re just running on memory.

“We caught Toby and I thought there must have been some kind of issue for us to catch him in that section there, but then he put his foot back down and there was no catching him.”

In the bike class, 2019 winner David Walsh has already been declared as this year’s winner after setting the fastest time to Aputula (Finke). The return leg back to Alice Springs was cancelled earlier today due to an undisclosed incident. Motorsport Australia has confirmed that the NT Police are still investigating.

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