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Dale Moscatt will look to draw on Toby Price’s experience as he prepares to guide him in the Baja 400 and Baja 1000.
One of Australia’s most experienced co-drivers, Moscatt will ride alongside Price in Paul Weel’s custom-built Geiser Brothers G6 2WD Trophy Truck for the Baja 400, which is set to take place from September 13-17, as well as the Baja 1000 in November.
Moscatt and Price will qualify for and contest the first half of the Baja 400, before handing over to Weel and co-driver Preston Schmid to bring the trophy truck home.
Speaking with Speedcafe.com while preparing for the Baja 400, Moscatt hopes his existing friendship with Price will aid their attempt.
“Toby and I’ve been friends for a while as we’ve been doing some of the Rally-Raid stuff when he’s been riding a KTM,” Moscatt said.
“I was doing Argentina/Bolivia Dakar in 2016 when Toby won his first one there so we’ve known each other for a while, and we hung out a lot in the lead-up to Dakar last year when we were both training in Dubai.
“So yeah, we started talking about these sorts of things and the opportunity came up with this new team, so I jumped at the chance to join forces with these guys.
“They’re true pros in the race car but also incredibly nice down-to-earth people and great fun to be around and that’s fantastic foundations to build this team from.
“We’ve all done a couple of days pre-running already and Toby and I did some training in Australia together before we left, and now we’ve come here to start the programme together for the 400.”
Moscatt said their preparation for the Baja 400 was impacted by Hurricane Kay, which made landfall along the Baja California peninsula on September 8.
“Unfortunately, a hurricane came through here just as we were starting our pre-running, so since we got here a lot of the bridges and roads were washed away,” he added.
“We had to take a couple of days off while all the water receded.
“There is still some damage to the course, so we’re not 100 percent sure how much of the course will be run, altered, and all those sorts of things.
“We went back out over the last two days [Sunday, Monday] to check on the course and it’s still very wet, there are some rivers running, where there weren’t rivers before.
“There is a bit of anticipation to see what sort of event we’re going to get, but in saying that this event is a huge thing and they do everything they can to give us as many miles as possible.
“We’re fully into the pre-running now and getting all the notes down for the course, so we’ve got around 1000 notes for just our half of the course.”
Moscatt believes the team can draw on its collective experience to overcome the challenge.
“While it’s my first time here in Mexico, and Paul’s first time as well, Toby and Preston have a lot of experience down here, they know the terrain and all the people,” he added.
“The idea of what we’re trying to do is bring all of our experiences together from all around the world in all sorts of disciplines.
“We all bring a lot of things to the table; Toby’s got an incredible amount of experience in such a variety of terrains but is certainly known as the desert guru.
“Paul’s exactly the same, he’s done touring car races all around the world, he’s done off-road events here, there and everywhere, he’s got a lot of experience to draw from too.
“Preston has most of his competition background in these very specific events over here so he’s been a fantastic mentor for me adapting to the little differences in the racing here too.
“What we’re trying to do is put these things all together, creating a really strong team, and we’re confident of running with the guys at the front.”
The New South Welshman is embracing the opportunity to represent Australia again on the international stage.
“I always love the opportunity to fly the flag and represent Australia,” he added.
“I have done the WRC, Rally-Raid events including two Dakar’s but also had really successful campaigns in China with Chris Atkinson for quite a number of years as well as my time in the Middle East, Russia, and so on.
“Anytime you get the chance to do these events and potentially run out the front and fly the flag for Australia, it’s always exciting so I’m looking forward to doing that with this Team Australia.”
The Baja 400 commences on Tuesday September 13 local time/Wednesday September 14 AEST.
