Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price has won the fifth and final stage of the 2019 Rally du Maroc. Luciano Benavides claimed his best result of the event in third to finish sixth overall and claim the FIM Junior Cross-Country Rallies World title with Matthias Walkner completing the event in seventh.
KTM Factory Racing’s Laia Sanz and Mario Patrao finished in 18th and 23rd places respectively with Sanz earning the 2019 FIM Women’s Cross-Country Rallies World Championship title.
Totalling 456.84 kilometres, stage five of the Rally du Maroc took riders north from their bivouac near Erfoud to the host city of Fes. The route once again challenged all competitors with a mixture of terrain starting with rough, broken pistes before leading to tighter, twisting tracks as the stage neared the finish.
Lying fifth overall after day four, Toby Price came into the short, final timed special with eight minutes to make up on the leaders. The Australian was the 15th rider to enter the stage and although the start position would often prove to be an advantage, Toby would still have to catch and pass several riders ahead in order to make up time. Pushing hard, right from the start, he gained on the leaders with every kilometre. Unfortunately, a small crash resulted in the reigning Dakar Champion losing too many seconds and despite pushing on for the rest of the stage to ultimately top the day’s standings, he was unable to make up enough time to take the event win. Fourth overall, Price now looks ahead to the 2020 Dakar Rally and the defence of his title.
Toby Price: “It hasn’t been a bad rally for me, I only just missed out on the podium, which is frustrating, but it’s been really good training. I knew I had to push really hard on that last stage and was making up good time but then had a small crash and gave myself a bit of a stiff neck. I missed out on the podium by just seven seconds but all-in-all I’m pleased with how I rode. Navigation was really tricky here and we had to learn to ride with the minimum of information. I’m hoping that will put us in a good position for January and the Dakar Rally.”
Provisional Results – Stage 5 Rally du Maroc 2019
- Toby Price (AUS), KTM, 2:13:15
- Joan Barreda (ESP), KTM, 2:16:09 +2:54
- Luciano Benavides (ARG), KTM, 2:16:25 +3:10
- Matthias Walkner (AUT), KTM, 2:16:46 +3:31
- Andrew Short (USA), Husqvarna, 2:18:29 +5:14
Other KTM - Laia Sanz (ESP), KTM, 2:26:11 +12:56
- Mario Patrao (POR), KTM, 2:31:51 +18:36