Toby Price wins fifth Finke Desert Race

KTM Australia’s Desert Racing Team has achieved its most glittering finish yet in the most important event on its calendar; the Tatts Finke Desert race.

The two-day return journey from Alice Springs to Finke saw Red Bull KTM Rally Team rider, Toby Price, equal the record for the highest number of Finke victories, winning his fifth title in a stunning KTM 500EXC trifecta. Price’s was the first of three spectacular 480-kilometre runs, as he, Tye Simmonds and David Walsh all slashed significant amounts off their fastest times to Finke and back, reaffirming the team’s status as Kings of the Desert.

Price became the first rider ever to drop below the three-hour-and-50-minute mark when he stopped the timer in 3:46:55, with Simmonds the only other rider to do so at 3:49:42 – slashing almost ten minutes of his rookie 2015 run. Walsh’s time of 3:52:11 would have won him the race last year, but the front men were all on a different plane this time around; Price literally so – flying the course twice as he successfully executed the Finke “Ironman” feat of competing in both Car and Bike divisions of the same event. In typical fashion, the man who won the Dakar Rally at only his second attempt in 2016 made it an outrageous success, winning the Trophy Trucks division and finishing second in the Car division Overall.

“It’s a bit of a surreal feeling to have tied the record out here for the most wins,” commented Price. “I’m pumped, and just glad the whole program we put together went to plan, we scored podiums in the truck category and then won the bike leg. It’s been an amazing weekend. The poor old truck copped a beating this week, we flipped it on Friday when a part broke, but the boys fixed it and got it going again, and we’re pumped. A lot of people doubted what we were doing, so I’m just glad that we came away with good results.”

The 2016 Tatts Finke Desert Race was coloured a distinct shade of KTM orange this year, with four of the top six finishers and ten of the top 20 KTM-mounted, while five of the eight motorcycle classes were won by KTM riders.

2016 Tatts Finke Desert Race Results

1. Toby Price (01:53:19 – 01:53:35) 03:46:55
2. Tye Simmonds (01:55:53 – 01:53:49) 03:49:42
3. David Walsh (01:57:07 – 01:55:04) 03:52:11
4. Daymon Stokie (01:57:25 – 01:56:46) 03:54:12
5. Beau Ralston (02:04:24 – 01:56:55) 04:01:19
6. Luke Hayes (02:09:14 – 02:09:11) 04:18:25
7. Todd Smith (02:08:38 – 02:10:57) 04:19:35
8. Ryan Cossens (02:11:54 – 02:09:38) 04:21:32
9. Caleb Auricht (02:13:39 – 02:08:23) 04:22:02
10. Nathan Trigg (02:15:30 –  02:11:05) 04:26:36