Dakar return no certainty for Price
Toby Price made history at Dakar this year by switching from two wheels to four, but it is no certainty he will return in 2026.
Price is already a Dakar legend, being the first Australian to conquer the rally having won it twice as a KTM factory biking star.
After losing that ride, Price turned his attention to four wheels and drove a Trophy Truck with another former rider Sam Sunderland.
Despite being on debut, he showed plenty of pace, being as high as fourth overall, only to withdraw after six stages due to a Sunderland concussion.
As he gains more four-wheel experience in ARC and Baja events, he has a growing hunger and is desperate to return.
However, a second crack on four wheels is no certainty as Price is chasing the required funds.
For a personality as big as Price, who has achieved more than most in Australian motorsport, it is hard to believe he is in this position, but that is the reality.
“We are still working behind the scenes, trying to work something out for Dakar in January next year,” Price told Auto Action Premium.
“The biggest thing there is that we need to find a lot of money to make it happen.
“It is probably going to be around the one million Euro mark, which is very difficult.
“I will put my head down and try to make something work with it, but if we come up short there is not much we can do.
“To find basically two million Australian dollars is a little difficult, but we want to have a crack.”
Reflecting on his first four-wheel Dakar, Price said he gained so much in a short space of time.
“The first experience at Dakar on four wheels was a tough one,” he said.
“The first few days were really good for us before we ran into a few problems.
“On one of the stages we got too many flat tyres and then from there we had some small issues with the engine and could not quite diagnose it.
“That is motorsport. A lot of things break and have issues.
“But we had a pretty good showing in the first one and hopefully we can have another crack and prove we belong.”
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