Ktm

The Australian hardman

In 2014 Toby Price came out of nowhere to finish 8 th on the Rallye du Maroc. Although the Australian was one of the leading desert and enduro racers back home, he was virtually unknown on the Dakar’s global stage. So the impact was huge when, a few months later, he made Dakar history by becoming the first rookie to finish on the podium! The following year, now a member of the KTM factory team, Price became the first Australian, in any category, to win the Dakar, at only his second attempt. His second crown in Lima in 2019 was further proof of his hardman courage, this time winning despite a badly injured wrist. Toby was now the boss of the KTM team. Like teammate Sunderland, Price has the stats of a warrior. In eight Dakars, he’s either DNFed (2017-21), won (2016-19) or finished third (2020-2015-18) – until that is, last January. One of the frontrunners who got lost on stage 1B, the Australian finished 10th overall in Jeddah, his worst ever result. But the 2018 rally-raid world champion is anything but a quitter and the 2022 W2RC season will be his opportunity to prove that he remains a pillar of the KTM team. Even if Toby has shown an increasing interest in cars over the past two years, in 2021 he re-signed for two more seasons with the Austrians and would no doubt much prefer to end his bike racing career as a champion. Like Ricky Brabec, who is 9 points ahead of him in the overall standings, Toby improved his position at the second round of the W2RC by finishing at the foot of the podium of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. The Australian moved up from 8th place in the W2RC provisional standings to 5th. But if he wants to get on the championship podium before the final he will have to be even better placed at the Rallye du Maroc. The race where he made his rally-raid debut in 2014 and that he has won twice in six participations.