DAKAR 2025: Toby’s Stage 1-4 Recap! 🤟

Prologue: 12th
Stage 1: 9th
Overall: 9th

A solid start for Dakar Rally ‘cars’ class debutants Toby Price and Sam Sunderland in their Black Rock Resort-backed Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux saw the duo capture 12th in prologue, then charging to 9th place in Stage 1 from 29th after a reverse grid.

Shaking the nerves and battling through the dust, the boys put in a fantastic performance to deliver the car back to the team in great shape, ready to take on the gruelling 48-hour Chrono Stage 🏜️

“We managed to finish Stage 1 in 9th but boy was it an adventurous day! After qualifying reasonably well yesterday, we had to start 29th because they reverse grid from 11th, so we were on the hunt all day in the dust. We had a couple of issues but all in all, we have a straight car and are in a good position for the 48-hour Chrono stage tomorrow.

Stage 2: 9th
Overall: 4th

A long drive and overnight camp during the 48-hour Chrono Stage, followed by the race back to Bisha saw Price and Sunderland continue their climb up throughout the ranks, with consistent, fast driving winding up with the Overdrive pair sitting in P4 Outright at the Stages conclusion.

“48 Hour Chrono Stage is done…thank gosh! Day one went really well for us, day two was a bit more of a struggle…gotta give the car guys huge credit, it’s difficult in that cockpit. The amount of dust that is kicked up, you can’t see much. Sammy is doing great in the navi seat, it’s only day three, long way to go, but we’re happy.”

Stage 3: 18th
Overall: 6th

A difficult day at the office greeted the boys during Stage 3, with a technical issue arising 15km into the Stage. Nevertheless, Toby rallied whilst limping the car where necessary, completing the Stage and bringing it home in a commendable P17, maintaining sixth in the overall classification.

“Little frustrated with today, about 15km in we had high temperatures in the car, which meant that on the wide open pieces we could only go 130km/ph. We pushed hard in the stone section to try to make up time - we lost a bit of time today, although there's a lot going on out there. A little frustrating, although this is part of Dakar, and it’s all about management on days like today.” 

Stage 4: 42nd
Overall: 26th

Stage 4, the marathon stage, unfortunately proved costly for Toby, with three separate punctures along the way resulting in having to wait for a competitor to lend a spare, with significant time lost in the process. The boys managed to finish, winding up the Stage in 42nd place, dropping them to 26th overall.