2018 Dakar Rally: Price third, Walkner wins

After a truncated preparation because of injury, Australian Toby Price (KTM) has defied the odds to finish on the podium in the 2018 Dakar Rally, which concluded in Argentina on January 20.

Price finished third overall, 23 minutes behind the winner: the Aussie’s KTM factory teammate Matthias Walkner.

Argentine Kevin Benavides, who won the final stage on his Honda, was second overall.

Price said he was just “happy to get to the finish line”.

“That was always the main goal right from the start,” said Price, the 2016 Dakar Rally winner.

“I tried to push today to make up the time on Kevin (Benavides) but halfway through I knew five minutes was just too much and so I just aimed for a safe finish. To finish the Dakar is an achievement in itself; to come away at the end of this year’s race with a podium is unbelievable, especially after the year I’ve had.

“The whole team have come together and worked so hard, none of us could do it without them. I’ll concentrate on the 2018 season now and try to get a little stronger and come back here next year looking for the top step.”

Walkner completed the 14th and final stage of the event in eighth place, more than enough to ensure a hard-fought overall victory – the first for an Austrian in the Dakar Rally.

Walkner’s victory also gave KTM a 17th consecutive motorcycle class win as he found the right balance between raw speed and error-freed navigation. Stage 10 was the game-changer, with Walkner ending the day with an almost 30-minute advantage over his nearest competitor.

Walkner said: “It’s unbelievable – I can’t describe how it feels. This year’s Dakar has been so difficult, easily the toughest rally of my career. Navigation has been tricky pretty much every day. At the beginning of the race, all the top riders were so close with not much time between us.

“I just tried to keep on doing well each day without making any mistakes. Things were so tight right up to my stage victory. After that I aimed to finish each day safely and get to the end of the rally without losing my advantage. Luckily the tactics worked out and I’m here at the end now as the winner and it feels unreal. Thank you to my team and everyone that has supported me – we did it!”

Antoine Meo (KTM) and Gerard Farres (KTM) completed the top five, with Price’s countrymen Rodney Faggotter (Yamaha) and rookie Scott Britnell (KTM) finishing in 16th and 61st positions respectively.

2018 DAKAR RESULTS