Toby Price has won the car division of the Tatts Finke Desert Race for the third consecutive year, once again receiving the coveted King of the Desert trophy.
Price, along with navigator Jason Duncan, rocketed through the course in their V8-powered trophy truck for an overall time of 3:21:46.6 seconds.
That’s just 0.4 seconds off his record-setting time last year and a full six minutes ahead of second-place finisher Greg Gartner.
Price now has nine King of the Desert crowns, with six wins in the bike category and three in the car category.
“To get my first win is a dream come true, and then to say I have nine [now] is wild,” Price said.
“We had a really good run, the trucks did an amazing job, my crew did an amazing job – without them, I wouldn’t be here.”
Although well down the overall leaderboard in 73rd place, the Ford Ranger Raptor driven by Brad and Byam Lovell – who drove the same vehicle in the Baja 1000 last November – took first place in the Production 4WD vehicle category.
The Raptor also broke the one-way record for the class, finishing the first lap in 2:51:18.711 and clocking a solid but unrecorded total of 5:56:30.
Ford Performance has entered the event in partnership with Walkinshaw Performance, with father and son duo Brad and Byam Lovell on board.
“Tracking this, I thought it was a fast rally race with a few little tricks,” said driver Brad Lovell.
“Seeing it torn up now, this is like San Felipe, Baja whoops. Great time, a lot of variety there, and at the end, we just started running, and we definitely got an edge that we never had before in the Ranger Raptor.
“But it took it – what a tough truck! We charged hard at the other end.”
The Lovell duo had to stop on the first race day several times to tighten the bolts on the Raptor’s rear suspension, although the second race day went much more smoothly – especially with less visibility-impairing dust.
The race itself takes place on June 11-12. The course consists of two sections, each approximately 226km long.
127 vehicles entered the four wheeler category but only 79 completed both days.
MORE: Ranger Raptor racers take on Finke after Baja 1000 win