Without sounding too hyperbolic, it has been some start to Toby Price and Sam Sunderland’s new Dakar Rally adventure in the car category.
The double bike class winners had been tipped to showcase their raw talent in their first outing together on four wheels but even they could not have expected to be sitting on the cusp of an overall podium place this early into their four-wheel careers.
To put their efforts into context, Price and Sunderland currently sit just 30 seconds behind Dacia Sandriders’ Nasser Al-Attiyah, a five-time winner with two decades more experience in the car discipline.
Although the start to the 47th edition has been contested amid an array of tactics, positioning and misfortune, the fact that Price and Sunderland are just 11m44s away from the rally lead ahead of the de facto start of the event proper is an incredible achievement.
“It’s been a dream start but there’s still a long way to go,” Price told DirtFish. “But at the moment, everything looks really good and between me and Sam, we’re still trying to work everything out; he’s trying to gain the confidence in me driving and I’m doing the same with him calling the notes.
“But how it’s all started out, I am really happy with it. I was hoping to maybe be inside the top 10, but fourth has exceeded our expectations.
“There’s a long way to go but we’re enjoying it.”
Price’s impressive start in the car category is not too dissimilar to that of a certain Stéphane Peterhansel’s debut back in 1999.
Having won the Dakar six times on a bike, Peterhansel switched to four wheels with Nissan alongside navigator Jean-Paul Cottret, finishing a superb seventh overall, one place behind future double winner Hiroshi Masuoka and ahead of 1998 winner Jean-Pierre Fontenay.
The following year – in the Dakar to Cairo edition of the Dakar – Peterhansel went on to finish second with two stage wins, four years before starting his record-breaking tally of eighth car class victories.
It may take a while before Price is matching the sort of record Peterhansel established to earn the name “Monsieur Dakar” but it’s clear that the Aussie has the raw ability to follow the same trajectory should he wish.
Adapting to his new surroundings in the Overdrive Racing-run Toyota Hilux T1+ is part of that transition process, and so far, it has thrown its unique idiosyncrasies that need time to gel.
“We’ve made a few little mistakes on day two, but it’s been nothing really major,” reflected Price. “I respect the car guys a lot more now, it’s difficult to see out these things and the more or less visible pistes feel like they are invisible now, so it’s very difficult.
“Today, we had a bit of a rest from the road book and sat behind Nasser a little bit. Being a five-time champ, we thought we’d take a bit of a breather and regather ourselves.
“He veered off at one of the caps and we thought ‘it’s going to have to be a strong move to pull away from Nasser’ and cut across to the right, and it didn’t quite work out and a couple of boys passed us.
Hopefully the onboard footage is a little bit of chaos for everyone - it’ll be two English speaking people sounding like they’re speaking Chinese!Toby Price
“With the amount of dust, you’re probably taking a few more risks in the car than you would on the bike because you’re driving blind sometimes. You do it on the bike too, but you’re putting your life on the line, in the car it’s just putting the car on the line.”
The plan for Price is simple: to stay within sight of the FIA Priority crews to maintain a good position on the road and learn as much as they can in as short a period as possible.
Sunderland underestimated car navigation challenge
Price and Sunderland came into the 2025 Dakar Rally as a somewhat unique pairing given that both have contested and won the event on two wheels prior. By default, riders have to do everything themselves, which is why it’s no surprise that many bikers make strong navigators when they finally make the switch to the car category.
For Sunderland, the biggest learning curve has been the verbalizing of the digital road book and relaying the relevant information to his driver, something he’s still getting used to.
“One of the main things is the communication,” Sunderland explained to DirtFish. “Obviously on the bike, I would just read the notes in my head and ride the bike and go where the note said, and now I am having to read it and then get it across to him.
“We’re making improvements, it hasn’t been easy. Maybe I slightly underestimated the job of the boys in the cars, I didn’t think it would be that tough, but it is.
“It’s physical, and you’ve not got much vision in the car, it’s quite claustrophobic and you have to anticipate what’s coming more because you can’t just spin around and have a look. “But it’s going alright, we’re chipping away at it.”
Perhaps the best part of this new experience is the relative lack of expectations coming into the event. That may change now given their impressive start but, as Price explains, the combined knowledge base in one car appears to be a big advantage.
“Having two navigators in the car, we can problem solve together a bit,” said Price.
“For sure, I am trying to concentrate on the driving part, but Sammy does a very good job even though he’s still got a little bit to learn on that side.
“So, he’s like ‘oh no mate, you need to go round here, cap this’ so he’s still trying to learn how to speak the navigation and I am still trying to learn the car.
“Hopefully the onboard footage is a little bit of chaos for everyone and hopefully there’s audio too, because it’ll be two English speaking people sounding like they’re speaking Chinese or something. It’s an adventure for sure, but it’s cool to be sharing it with Sam, and the navigators don’t get the respect they deserve in the cars and without Sam, I’ve got no idea where I’m going.”
The start of the rally has not been without its hairy moments either though.
“I see a lot of the top boys having some problems and we’re trying not to be on that yo-yo effect but it’s easier said than done,” continues Sunderland. “Yesterday, for example, we ended up opening in the dunes and I was like ‘oh sweet, we’re opening in our first car race in the Dakar’ and then after 5km we missed a bit of a hole in the dunes and had a big impact and were teetering on a bit of a yo-yo for a moment.
“Luckily, we fell back down and got going again, but it can definitely go south in the car quickly so we can’t get ahead of ourselves.”
Stage three of the Dakar Rally will take the crews away from Bisha for the first time this year, with a 495km journey to Al-Henakiyah on the cards.
Price will be aiming to give Sunderland a few less “head knocks and rattles” as he did on the opening two days while the latter is keen to make the most of the experience, even if it takes a while to start appreciating life in the right-hand seat.
“Erm…I am enjoying it, yes, as a challenge,” hesitated Sunderland. “I guess it’s like asking a marathon runner at 40km when their legs are burning if they’re enjoying themselves! It’s definitely brutal out there but I’m good mates with Tobes and it’s a good project to be involved in and hopefully we can pull off a good result.”
