MOTORSPORT: Finke four-wheel success eludes Price again

Twice Toby Price has won the Dakar Rally on two wheels, but he just can’t conquer the Finke Desert Race on four wheels.

Although he’s been ‘king of the desert’ in the Australian outback six times on motorcycles, Price was devastated to fail again in his fourth attempt on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend to win Finke in a trophy truck.

He and navigator Jason Duncan led by almost 7¾ minutes after Sunday’s 226km outward leg from Alice Springs to Aputula (Finke), but broke down between the Mt Squires and Bundooma checkpoints on Monday’s return leg.

Jack Rhodes, originally from Alice Springs but now an Adelaide resident, and his navigator, David Pullino, also from Adelaide, picked up the win in their buggy with a 3.5-litre Nissan engine.

They had been runners-up to Price and Duncan on the outward leg and were fastest on the return trip, taking victory by almost 9½ minutes with a total time of three hours 42 minutes 25.4 seconds.

Rhodes said he had “been the bridesmaid so many times” over 10 years and could hardly believe his luck after rolling the buggy in Saturday’s prologue and starting 14th.

“It’s been a hard journey over the years,” Rhodes said.

“I just keep coming back and keep working away and chipping away, having so many people put so much work in, and letting them down with small things and driver error.

“To finally get it done … a lot of the challenges were mental – just battling through it, keeping yourself calm, just trying to get through it.

“I think that’s why they call it the toughest desert race there is.”

When Rhodes saw Price stranded beside the track he thought ‘it’s never over until it’s over’.

Price, ‘nursing’ a right wrist still only “50 to 60 per cent” after surgery following his second Dakar success in January, and Duncan had stretched their lead to eight minutes before the rear gears failed in the trophy truck and they lost all drive to the wheels.

“At the end of the day there were some positives … we had good fun until it came to a screaming halt,” said Price, from NSW’s Hunter Valley.

“The only negative was that we didn’t finish.

“We showed we had the speed and can drive, but some small issues went wrong and we broke a third member, basically the rear gears and diff housing.

“We sheared them all off by the sounds of it. We lost drive to the wheels and that was it.

“I’m annoyed, but the main thing is the crew is safe and we’ll be back next year.”

That will be Price’s fifth attempt to win Finke on four wheels. His best result to date has been runner-up at his first try in 2016, while in three years since he’s failed to finish.