Price back into Dakar Rally lead

Aussie KTM factory rider Toby Price blitzed stage eight of the 2016 Dakar Rally on January 11 and now leads the 9000km epic by just over two minutes ahead of main rival Paolo Goncalves.

Price's fourth stage win saw him complete the 393km timed section from Salta to Belen in four hours, 33 minutes and 14 seconds, over five minutes clear of Goncalves (Honda), who crashed and sustained some damage to his navigation equipment. Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) was third from Stefan Svitko (KTM) and Kevin Benavides (Honda).

Price said: “The first part started out on big open roads and I think we dropped a little bit of time there. But just getting through it was a pretty fast track so we were looking forward to the second part where it was going to get more technical and more difficult. We did pretty well in the sand dunes and we pushed through the navigation.”

Price’s win came immediately after the rest day in Salta, but there are still many kilometres left to ride and race officials have promised difficult conditions and challenging navigation still to come.

Price now leads the 2016 Dakar Rally by 2:05 over Goncalves, followed by Svitko (14:14), Quintanilla (21:26) and Benavides (25:55).

On January 12 riders face another challenge, the first part of a second marathon stage where they must preserve energy, machinery and tyres to last overnight and through to the end of Wednesday’s stage. They will overnight in an isolated bivouac without assistance from their teams. Organisers have promised significant challenges including almost all off-piste riding in vegetation-scattered dunes and on harder surfaces.  

2016 DAKAR RALLY RESULTS