A convincing win in Stage 3 of the 2019 Rally of Morocco has launched Toby Price into the overall lead of the event.
Price finished the stage just 01m59s ahead of Red Bull KTM teammate Matthias Walkner, with Franco Caimi (Yamalube Yamaha) third.
Today’s stage was set to be the longest of the event, but organisers cancelled the third part of the timed special for safety reasons and took the day’s results from the end of the second special.
After a very tough day two, where issues with the road book cost him valuable minutes, Toby Price knew he had to attack Stage 3 hard to stay competitive in the overall standings.
And that he did!
“The stage went well for me today. There were a couple of sections that were quite tricky and I didn’t quite catch them at the right point to make up time on the guys in front. Even so, we were able to close the gap a little and I felt good all day.“
Toby Price
Andrew Houlihan (Nomadas Adventure/Sherco 450) had a good day finishing the stage 14th and moving to 10th overall.
In cars, Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing/Hilux) took the stage win from Carlos Sainz (X-Raid John Cooper Works Team) and Giniel de Villiers (Toyota Gazoo Racing/Hilux).
Former F1 champ and Dakar 2020 hopeful Fernando Alsonso (Toyota Gazoo Racing/Hilux) didn’t have such a good day.
Alonso and co-driver Marc Coma crashed out of the third stage, hitting a hole that caused heavy damage to the front suspension of his Hilux.
Stage 4 consists of 2 liaison stages totalling 157km and a special stage of 311km for bikes, and 2 liaison stages of 100km and a special stage of 407km for cars.