Price is right for a third dose of Dakar Rally glory

Perth Now

13-05-2025

If Carlos Sainz can race through uncharted deserts at 63 years of age, there's no reason why Australia's Dakar Rally champion Toby Price can't do it too.
Two-time Dakar motorcycle winner Price concedes his seat for next year's classic off-road marathon isn't guaranteed after moving to four wheels, but insists the lack of immediate certainty doesn't spell the end.
Price's debut in the cars category in January was cut short when co-driver Sam Sunderland suffered a concussion on stage five out of the 12-stage rally raid.
The duo had been 24th in the overall standings when they withdrew before the end of the 14-day event.
Price will be 38 in January, but the only hurdle to more Dakar glory for the Gold Coast local is locking in a factory-supported seat.
"The old saying is that with age comes the cage, but I've only known racing, and that's it," Price told AAP.
"You look at Carlos Sainz, you're like, 'How the hell are you still doing this at 63?'
"That's what I'm trying to do at the moment, be a Carlos Sainz and race till I'm 60 years old.
"We're reassessing already to see if we can go back and try again next year.
"I'm hoping within the next two or three years we'll be able to work ourselves to that factory seat and then have it as a full-time job."
His move to cars came after Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM opted against renewing his contract last year, ending an illustrious partnership of almost a decade.
Price became the first Australian to win the Dakar Rally in 2016 on his second attempt, before claiming another title in 2019.
In 2023 he fell short of a third championship, finishing 43 seconds behind Kevin Benavides, his campaign captured in the documentary Dakar: Race Against the Desert, which will be released on Wednesday.
"To race 9000 kilometres and lose a race by 43 seconds was a hard one to swallow," the Australian said.
"When the camera's sitting right in front of your face, there were probably a lot more things I wanted to say.
"That one still haunts me to this day."
Price will make his Australian Rally Championship debut at this month's Forest Rally in WA as part of his bid for another Dakar title.
The 37-year-old has already reached the top podium step in the South Australian championship with co-driver Holly Kilbride.
"I'm trying to get any bit of seat time I possibly can, trying to show my potential, to say, 'Hey, just take a bit of a chance on me'," Price said.
Picking the brain of Spanish racing great Sainz is also part of his four-wheel evolution.
Sainz, father of the Ferrari Formula One driver with the same name, became the oldest Dakar winner at 61 when he claimed his fourth title in 2024.
"I was the hair stylist for all the riders after a couple of weeks' worth of racing one year, but I was actually too scared to touch his hair, so I gave him a trim on the beard," Price said.
"But, yeah, I hit him up with all the questions."