Hunter endurance rally star Toby Price has made a solid start to challenging stage one of the 2024 Dakar Rally finishing 16th after losing seven minutes to technical issues.
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Price had finished eighth in Friday's prologue and the two-time champion was inside the top 10 through to the 225km mark of the 414km timed section on stage one, but the technical issue at 70km before the refuelling stop cost him about seven minutes on his rivals.
"They promised rocks today and it was definitely rocky - it was all quite tricky to get through while staying focused on the roadbook," Price, 36, said after the stage in which he finished 23 minutes and 20 seconds behind the leader Ross Branch.
"I did have a small issue before the refueling that cost me some minutes, but thankfully I was able to fix that and carry on afterwards.
"i've lost a little bit of time on the early leaders, but I'm here safe at the finish and we have a lot of kilometers to race ahead of us.
"Today's stage has already shown that the Dakar is tough and can throw up some surprises, so my plan, as always, is to stay consistent and do my best day by day."
Stage one was won by Botswana's Branch who finished the stage on his Hero Honda in five hours, 13 minutes and 55 seconds.
US Ricky Brabec was second 11m;54s behind, fellow American Mason Klein third (KOVE +11:58), Chile's Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda +14:48) fourth and South African Bradley Cox (KTM +14:53) fifth.
Kevin Benavides, the reigning Dakar champion and Price's KTM teammate, was eighth 16m;14s behind the leader.
Michael Hartshorn
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
