Toby Price kicked off the Morocco Rally, the final round of the 2016 FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship, with a victory on the short and fast desert stage.

After winning Sunday’s seven kilometre super special, the Australian off-road ace elected to start in 11th position, leaving the responsibility of opening the track and the first navigation challenges to the riders ahead.

Price’s tactics paid off as he finished the dusty opening stage ahead of Kevin Benavides in second position and Red Bull KTM teammate, Sam Sunderland rounding out the top three.

“Stage one was good and there was a couple of tricky bits and the dust made it a bit difficult when we caught some riders in front,” said Price. “But we got through well and I only made a couple of small errors with the navigation. But I think it was more to do with the dust and trying to keep my eyes on the road instead of looking at the road book.”

Price and his competitors will now prepare to face the first half of a marathon stage where they will overnight in the desert and are not permitted any mechanical support from their teams.

“It’s going o be difficult and we’re going to make sure we look after the bike and the tires, and on day three we can charge a bit harder,” he added. “We’ll just take it nice and easy and make sure we finish in one piece and start day three feeling healthy and with a good bike.”

Australia’s Rod Faggotter made his debut with the Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team, finishing the opening stage with a 14th place finish aboard his Yamaha WR450F.