Price and Weel win Baja 500
Aussies Toby Price and Paul Weel have emerged from the arduous 56th Baja 500 victorious alongside Brent Bauman.
It was a comprehensive performance from the trio as they dominated the 483.06-mile SCORE International event in Baja California, Mexico from start to finish.
Price put the Trophy Truck on course for victory by being fastest in qualifying with a time of 6:34.301, which was 1.7s clear of the rest.
From there the Quad Lock Maston Motorsports Trophy Truck was never challenged as they led the entire journey.
Across the five sectors, there was only one where Price was not the fastest.
After over nine hours of running on the single loop course, Price/Weel/Bauman were more than seven minutes clear of nearest rival Tavo Vildosola.
It was quite fitting timing given the win arrived on the same day another Quad Lock backed car in Shane van Gisbergen won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race.
After a total time of nine hours, 19 minutes and 55 seconds, both Aussies were emotional about the hard-earned win.
“It has been hard, the last 12 months,” Weel said.
“I am really pleased for Paul,” Price said.
“He keeps paying the bills and I keep breaking the cars.
“Coming from Australia its really hard work and we are ready to hit the 400 now!
“It is crazy to think we’ve got one after everything we’ve gone through.
“For Paul to come back after a truck burnt down and stick with this program and all our bad luck, it’s unreal to reward all the boys and girls at Toby Price Motorsport.
“The race went really well for us. It was a nice, smooth day, which was really good.
“We were just trying to keep a good speed and keep the guys behind us.
“Basically, we just tried to keep the wheels on the truck and our BFGoodrich Tires were exceptional. We were fighting with Tavo (Vildosola Jr, No. 21) all day.
“Getting this win is one box ticked for us, its exceptional.
“It’s a big effort to come from Australia and compete with these guys, so I’m very proud of the team for the effort”.
The next SCORE International event is the Baja 400 on September 11-15.
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