The Toyota driver finished Tuesday’s stage fourth overall – 4m36s off the pace – to surge from 16th in the standings to seventh.

It was a Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC one-two courtesy of Seth Quintero and Henk Lategan, who were split by 1m42s at the end of the day.

Quintero’s result pushed him towards the top of the overall standings, just seven seconds away from Dacia’s Nasser Al-Attiyah.

It was a big bounce back for the Toyota teams, who all suffered punctures on Stage 1.

Price, however, still befell tyre trouble during Stage 2, which cost him a shot at the top three.

The Australian, who sits 2m42s away from the overall lead, was upbeat after a strong showing for him and the Toyota drivers.

“We nailed the first part of the stage, and it was looking good. But not long after the pit stop zone, we got a slow puncture, so we had to change the tyre,” said Price.

“That was a bit annoying because I was being careful over the rocks as the terrain was brutal.

“But everything went well for the rest of the stage and we’re happy. The

“DKR GR Hilux feels amazing, Armand is doing an amazing job and to have all the TGR W2RC cars at the front on this stage is great. It’s still early days and we’re in the fight.”

Rally lead Al-Attiyah survived the day without any punctures, but lacked outright speed of the Toyota trio. He was only sixth fastest at the end of Stage 2.

“It was a good day,” said the Dacia driver.

“I am really quite happy to not really go crazy from the beginning, without any punctures.

“This is what we need to do for the next two or three days and then we can find our rhythm.

“The key of the Dakar will be tomorrow because I think it will be hard navigation. This area is not easy”.

Stage 3 continues on Tuesday.

2026 Dakar Rally Cars Top 10 after Stage 2