Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price has placed third on the fourth and penultimate stage of the Rallye du Maroc. With one stage left to race, the Australian leads the overall standings with an advantage of close to six minutes.
Giving his all as always, Toby Price was the second rider to enter today’s long, 343-kilometer timed special, and immediately set about chasing down the rider ahead. Navigating well through the varied and demanding terrain, Toby was able to maintain a strong pace from the front, making the minimum of errors and in turn, earning close to four minutes of bonus time for opening the stage.
Bringing his KTM 450 RALLY safely home in third place, Price increased his lead in the provisional overall standings to five minutes and 56 seconds. With tomorrow’s fifth stage measuring a shorter 152 kilometers, the final timed special of this year’s event represents a relative sprint finish to the rally. Although Toby will be aiming to push hard over the looped stage and carry his advantage to the finish line, with times so tight at the top of the standings, the fight for the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship title looks set to go down to the very final kilometer of the stage.
Toby Price: “It was definitely a long day out there today. I had a good day on the whole, I did make a couple of little navigation errors, but was able to fix them pretty quickly and didn’t lose too much time. It’s the last day tomorrow and things in the championship fight are getting really close. It looks like my issue in Argentina might come back to haunt me. All I can do here in Morocco is keep on fighting and let the race come to me. One day left, so I’m all in!”
Provisional Results – 2023 Rallye du Maroc, Stage 4
1. Luciano Benavides (ARG), Husqvarna, 3:35:12
2. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (CHL), Honda, 3:36:30 +1:18
3. Toby Price (AUS), KTM, 3:37:36 +2:24
4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL), Honda, 3:38:29 +3:17
5. Tosha Schareina (ESP), Honda, 3:38:38 +3:26
Provisional Standings – 2023 Rallye du Maroc (after 4 of 5 stages)
1. Toby Price (AUS), KTM, 14:02:38
2. Ross Branch (BWA), Hero, 14:08:34 +5:56
3. Luciano Benavides (ARG), Husqvarna, 14:09:02 +6:24
4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL), Honda, 14:10:38 +8:00
5. Tosha Schareina (ESP), Honda, 14:12:32 +9:54