Toby Price departs Mitsubishi as he contemplates Dakar 4-wheel switch

Toby Price has dominated the Finke Desert Race on both two and four wheels, having won the last three editions in a Mitsubishi Triton Trophy Truck, and is one of the top rally raid bike riders today as a two-time Dakar Rally champion. However, as he ponders tackling the latter in a four-wheel vehicle as well, Mitsubishi will not be joining him for such a journey.

In an interview with Motorsport.com, Price revealed he is no longer a Mitsubishi ambassador after splitting to provide flexibility if another manufacturer recruits him to race the Dakar Rally in a car. He had attempted to persuade Mitsubishi into reviving their Dakar programme but noted “it seems like it’s not in the goal and vision for them to do that, which is fine for their business structure. But it’s hard. I don’t want to be locked into something if an opportunity comes along to get into the car category, so we had to part ways.”

Price, the 2016 and 2019 Dakar Rally overall bike winner, is contracted to race the event for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing through at least 2024. Besides Dakar, he is contesting the World Rally-Raid Championship with KTM and is currently second in points entering the season-ending Rallye du Maroc that begins Friday.

While one of the top rally bike riders today, he has long been keen on trying out four-wheeled racing. Outside of Finke, he has competed sporadically in the Stadium Super Trucks run by Dakar veteran Robby Gordon since 2015. He and SST colleague Paul Weel also race a Mason Trophy Truck in SCORE International.

This interest also extends to Dakar, where he explains that switching to a car would allow him to prolong his career until he turns sixty. As driving a car obviously has more safety advantages than a bike, it is not uncommon for Dakar two-wheeled stars to eventually race on four in their later years: Stéphane Peterhansel won the Dakar six times on a bike before adding eight more victories in a car, while Nani Roma has a win apiece in each class. Although both of Josef Macháček‘s Dakar triumphs were in four-wheeled vehicles, one was on a quad and the other came in an SSV.

Price put up his Finke-winning Mitsubishi truck for sale in late September to raise funds for his SCORE team.

“The plan for the future with Dakar is to make the switch to four wheels, although I know I’m still competitive on two and can do the job that’s needed to be done to be at the front,” said Price.

Mitsubishi won the Dakar Rally a record twelve times, the most of any four-wheel manufacturer, before shutting down their factory programme in 2009. Any additional Dakar presence afterwards came in the form of privateers with very limited company support at most. In 2022, Mitsubishi and performance division Ralliart reformed their rally raid arm to compete in the Asia Cross Country Rally, winning on début, while Mitsubishi Motors Brasil came back to life for the 2023 Rally dos Sertões.

Although both the AXCR and Brasil teams field Tritons, Price’s news indicate Mitsubishi proper currently not have interest in heading back to Dakar.