Even with a navigator change, he was faultless through the first two wet sections of the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship third round after winning the Prologue.

“Yeah wow that was pretty awesome. Started off with this morning’s section there, for the two laps we pushed pretty hard as well, so it went really well,” Haby said.

“[Daughter] Chelsea couldn’t quite hop back in the car she actually felt sick, but I found another navigator! We pushed pretty hard, kept pushing because we knew the guys behind us, and thought there’s no point backing off yet.”

Rodyn Bailey and Dean Ellbourn (Element Prodigy/Toyota V6 twin turbo) were second quickest after five laps of the 40km course. Third 40s away at the end of Saturday were Joshua Ferguson and Jordan Anderson (Jimco/Chev V8) with the top three spots all Pro Buggies.

Fourth was the first of the Extreme 4WD class with Brett Comiskey and Corey Cooper (TSCO Trophy Truck/Chev) ahead of class rivals, Boston Horan and David Morgan (Geiser Bros Trophy Truck/Chev) by just over a second.

They were trailed by Jake Swinglehurst/Shaun Harris (Jimco/Nissan twin turbo), Finke Desert Race winners Beau Robinson/Shane Hutt (Mason Trophy Truck/Chev), and the Prolites of Mel and Liam Brandle (Alumicraft/Nissan) and Ben Falk/Jonathon O’Connor (Custom Fab/Nissan).

Reigning champions Travis Robinson and Andrew Pinto (Jimco/Nissan twin turbo) had a power steering pump issue in Section 1 and couldn’t rejoin for Section 2. Engine failure sidelined multiple AORC champion Shannon Rentsch (Jimco/Nissan twin turbo) and Nick Hicks had a big roll over at the final corner.

In the Transportable Sheds SXS Motorsport Australia Championship Lachlan Bailey and Nathan Sracek lead by 1.8s ahead of Glen Ackroyd/Michael Price and James and Michael Mogford 1:20 behind.

There will be another two sections and 200km for crews on Sunday from 8.30am local time at the Loveday 4×4 Adventure Park.