Price was making his first start in the EROAD Australian Rally Championship Production Cup, stepping up from the Subaru WRX Challenge.

Driving a borrowed Mitsubishi, Price misjudged a right-hander on Special Stage 3 and ploughed through a fence before flipping the car several times over.

Price escaped with just a few scratches while Kilbride suffered minor neck injuries.

“It’s a tough one to swallow,” said Price.

“I made a mistake, and unfortunately it happens. We’ve gone for a roll.

“Just a tough one. It’s not what I was setting out to do. The first couple of stages, I was just getting through, and I feel like in that one I wasn’t doing anything too crazy.

“One note we called, and it was a right nine. I feel like I committed to the nine but it seems like it was a little bit tighter than what we recce’d.

“I just made an error. Instead of going into some trees, I tried to pick a field and unfortunately going out into that field there was a big rock in there.

“(The rock) hit the sump plate and we went for a roll. Not great. Not what I was setting out here to do.”

It was a brutal end to the rally for Price, who had been given the car by Glenn Brinkman to compete.

“I feel bad for Glenn and handing him back a crumpled can, but the main thing is I’m safe,” said Price.

Price’s co-driver Kilbride was taken to Adelaide Hospital for an MRI after reportedly suffering neck pain.

“Everything from there seems like she’s beginning to clear,” said Price.

“She just got a little bit of a sore neck, so I think hopefully it’s just some strain on some muscles on her neck and something pretty light.

“Other than that, the safety equipment did its job and we’re here in one piece.

“Just a tough one to take. I didn’t want to be doing that and unfortunately it’s part of the rally sport and we make mistakes, but we’ve just go to make sure we learn from them.”

The rally continues on Sunday with Heat 2. Heat 1 was taken out by New Zealand’s Hayden Paddon in his Hyundai i20 N Rally2.

Paddon wound up 20.2s clear of Toyota GR Yaris driver Lewis Bates while Alex Rullo was third in his Hyundai.

Harry Bates was an early retirement, all but ending his hopes of winning the Australian Rally Championship after he crashed on Special Stage 7.

Bates had been just a few seconds behind Paddon before his untimely crash, which gifted Paddon a comfortable lead.

“Obviously mission accomplished in the respect of winning Heat 1 and extending the championship lead,” said Paddon.

“But it was a real shame that Harry had his little off road excursion today. It was obviously a close fight and I think we would have been pushing each other right to the end.

“So, obviously once Harry was on the side of the road, we sort of backed off a bit just to look after tyres. But in saying that, Louis has not been far away all day as well, so it’s close.”