“We threw everything at it”: Toby Price reflects on historic Finke win

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In June 2021, Toby Price made history at the Finke Desert Race. Here, he reflects on an all-time effort.

In June, in his first race back from a devastating shoulder injury, off-road icon Toby Price became the first human on earth to win the Tatts Finke Desert Race on both two and four wheels.

Having already won six times in the bike division, in 2021 he crossed the line first in his Mitsubishi Triton trophy truck – with teammates Joseph Weining and Mark Dutton by his side – and made history in the process. We caught up with Toby to find out what went in to the historic effort.

Toby! How’d the win feel?

The best result I’ve had out there on four wheels is second outright – the number one spot has always alluded us. We just weren’t able to piece everything together in previous years. But this year, it finally felt good to get on that top step.

How was it heading into Finke after your shoulder injury?

It was pretty much my first race meeting back, since my injury in Dakar. It was still a bit of an unknown with the shoulder. It was a bit of a concern – not knowing how comfortable I’d be for the weekend of racing, but being able to get a good result and have no pain or discomfort really ticked the boxes for us.

Toby celebrates the win at the 2021 Finke Desert Race.

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That’s a pretty cracking result – not knowing if you’re going to be in pain, but then actually coming away with the win.

Yeah, and we hadn’t had the truck in our hands for very long – so there was a lot of uncertainty with that too. But we threw everything at it, with a brand-new truck. The first time that truck hit dirt, it won its first event. So it’s happy days.

You placed first in the prologue. Did that give you extra confidence heading into the race itself?

I always knew I could do it, just the last few attempts hadn’t gone our way, with a lot of issues and dramas. So we went into the prologue on Saturday a little nervous, but wanting to do the best we could. The truck only had about 50 kilometres of testing in it, so I didn’t know how it would perform. I hadn’t driven a four-wheeled vehicle racing-wise in over four months. There were a lot of things there that were a little bit nerve-wracking. But we qualified top in prologue, the truck performed really well, so we were in the best posiiton to make it all work really well on day one. We had a really smooth run on the Sunday – we covered 230 kilometres in 39 minutes, which was a new record. We had a few little issues on the way back, but we were able to manage it and come home for the win. It was a good result, and a good way to repay the team for all of their hard work!

Toby races through the desert during the Finke Desert Race 2021.

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How does it feel to get a win like this in your own backyard, after a pretty difficult year and a half?

Yeah, you don’t know what next week is going to bring. I’ve grown up with racing – two wheels, four wheels – I have that red dirt in my veins. Sometimes it’s a bad thing to have in your veins, but it’s fun, it’s good to have good people and good crew around it. It’s good to make those good memories. Being the first time of winning on both four and two wheels and getting my name in the history book there was pretty cool too.

What is it about Finke that you love so much?

Finke is basically just a sprint race. A flat tyre can cost you the race – so everything’s gotta run smooth, and run perfect. You’ve gotta have a fair bit of luck on your side. But the atmosphere, and the people who come out from all over Australia for the event – they drive from two and a half to three days to come out to the Red Centre and watch the event. It’s cool to see how it all comes together. Unfortunately, this year we had a tragic ending to the event, with a spectator passing away, so I want to send my condolences to the family. I hope they’re doing OK.

With Finke under his belt, it’s all eyes on Dakar for Toby Price.

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I saw you had your old man out there with you – how was it getting to share these experiences with him?

My dad comes out every year to Finke, he’s a big part of the whole Toby Price motorsport program. He’s basically the truck driver: he’s got the most nerve-wracking job of the lot really, and that’s transporting the trophy truck from Gold Coast up to Alice Springs. If something goes wrong there, I’m sure dad would be pretty distraught! But my dad used to race off-road, before I’d eve started riding dirt bikes. To see how excited he is around four-wheel motorsport, and how far the technology’s come since he raced in class five and winning his Australian championship all those years ago, it’s cool to still have my family a part of it. They only get to see the races I do here in Australia, because half the time I’m around the world somewhere, but whenever I’m home it’s good to have all of my family and friends involved, making great memories.

And what have you got coming up next?

We’ve just gotta start getting ready for Dakar in January. We’ll probably head out in the next couple of months and do some testing in the USA, and then it’s all the build-up to the Dakar. We’ll be based out of Dubai around November or December, just getting ready. The year’s only going to get busier now, but I’m looking forward to being back on two wheels with the KTM factory team – who are basically my second family – and getting ready for what’s to come.