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Finke Desert Race gets underway with Price on top

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: June 10, 2023

The 2023 Finke Desert Race has arrived with wheels already in motion for the 47th edition of the famous event.

Well over 500 competitors took on the event last year and another huge field has begun their charge through the outback.

There are plenty of stars on show with Aaron James and Riley Larkin aiming to defend their respective Cars and Bikes titles.

Off the track the race will look a little different with fans forced to follow a number of safety measures such as a 30m spectator exclusion zone.

The race has begun with the Prologue, which determines the starting positions for race day Sunday in both categories.

Each driver and rider will tackle the 8.3km layout and the fastest lap time against the clock will determine the starting order for the Finke Desert Race.

Those with the fastest times will enjoy the honour of starting the race first.

The Car Prologue has already taken place with Dakar legend Toby Price making his mark.

Price’s 4:36.71 was overwhelmingly the fastest time of the morning by 2.257s over Beau Robinson.

Robinson was the only driver to come close to the two-time Dakar Rally winner with third place a further 10s adrift.

That was Travis Robinson in third ahead of Joshua Howells.

Reigning winner James finished fifth with a lap 15s off the ultimate pace.

The Bike Prologue will conclude at 4pm local time.

The Prologue has set the scene for the big race which concludes on June 12.

Car Prologue top 10 results

Pl. RaceNo. Driver/Co-Driver/Nav/Nav2 Car Class Time Avg Speed Status Gap Int
1 487 Toby Price 04 – EXTREME 2WD 04:36.71 104.0801 — —
2 413 Beau Robinson 04 – EXTREME 2WD 04:38.96 103.238 2.257 2.257
3 13 Travis Robinson 00 – PRO BUGGY 04:47.07 100.3233 10.362 8.105
4 15 Joshua Howells 00 – PRO BUGGY 04:47.42 100.2014 10.711 0.349
5 93 Aaron James 00 – PRO BUGGY 04:52.52 98.4518 15.819 5.108
6 410 Greg Gartner 04 – EXTREME 2WD 04:56.44 97.1529 19.730 3.911
7 421 Toby Whateley 04 – EXTREME 2WD 04:57.07 96.9465 20.361 0.631
8 33 Shannon Rentsch 00 – PRO BUGGY 04:57.50 96.8051 20.795 0.434
9 120 Brent Martin 01 – PROLITE BUGGY 04:57.79 96.7124 21.080 0.285
10 2 Brent Smoothy 08 – EXTREME 4WD 04:58.25 96.5604 21.549 0.469

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the recent issue of AUTO ACTION.

If you can’t get a copy locally, you can also subscribe to the print or digital edition of the magazine here.

PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!

Andrew Clarke and Auto Action’s Bruce Williams and ARG’s Barry Rogers sat down for a candid chat ahead of the SpeedSeries trip to Winton.

Listen to the RevLimiter podcast on your podcast app of choice or here on the RevLimiter website

AUTO ACTION, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.

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