Off Road

2024 Baja 500: Toby Price tops qualifying again

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Credit: Toby Price Motorsport

Hopefully Toby Price, Paul Weel, and Kellon Walch hired that exorcist like we suggested in March.

For the third time since 2023, Price and Team Australia put the #46 Trophy Truck atop the leaderboard in a SCORE International qualifying session when he beat San Felipe 250 winner Alan Ampudia for the Baja 500 pole on Thursday. However, qualifying success has yet to translate to success in the race themselves for the Aussies, having swept the two qualifiers in 2023 only to bow out with a mechanical failure.

Price qualified third for the season-opening San Felipe 250, but a bolt on the right front control arm broke off and forced the #46 out. Since their début in 2022, Team Australia has only finished two of seven races.

Christopher Polvoorde was third ahead of defending Baja 500 winner Bryce Menzies. Rob MacCachren experienced mechanical issues during his sight lap but managed to qualify top ten. The #19 Trophy Truck of Tim Herbst rolled with James Dean qualifying, though he walked away unharmed; Dean filled in for his father Pat, who is sitting out the 500 for health reasons.

“The #19 had a rollover during qualifying. Driver and co-driver are okay. That’s all that matters,” reads a statement from Terrible Herbst Motorsports. “We have some of the best crew out there. Will get truck together and ready for race day.”

Jason McNeil‘s Trophy Truck Spec also did not finish the session after smashing into an incline while landing.

Apdaly Lopez was the fastest TT Spec in Jordan Brenthel‘s #273 while Gus Vildósola topped the TT Legends.

The 56th Baja 500 will take place on Saturday.

Qualifying results

Trophy Truck

PositionNumberDriver of RecordTimeMargin
146Toby Price6:34.301Leader
210Alan Ampudia6:36.094+ 1.793
394Christopher Polvoorde6:37.760+ 3.459
41Bryce Menzies6:39.298+ 4.997
521Tavo Vildósola6:43.689+ 9.388
683Luke McMillin6:45.242+ 10.941
741Justin Lofton6:46.344+ 12.043
870Kevin Thompson6:57.312+ 23.011
963Ruben Torres7:00.440+ 26.139
1011Rob MacCachren7:01.597+ 27.296
1189Mike Walser7:03.170+ 28.869
1216Cameron Steele7:05.105+ 30.804
1378Tracy Poole7:05.147+ 30.846
1423Dan McMillin7:06.236+ 31.935
1582Sam Baldi7:11.737+ 37.436
1685Mikey Lawrence7:12.717+ 38.415
1758Tracy Graf7:25.271+ 50.970
1833Roberto Romo Jr.7:27.678+ 53.377
1987Dallas Luttrell7:33.536+ 59.235
2019Tim HerbstDNFN/A

Trophy Truck Legends

PositionNumberDriver of RecordTimeMargin
11LGus Vildósola6:48.152Leader
237LRolf Helland7:01.198+ 13.046
361LDavid Payne7:13.842+ 25.690
485LClay Lawrence7:19.308+ 31.156
565LGreg Adler7:48.319+ 1:00.167

Trophy Truck Spec

PositionNumberDriver of RecordTimeMargin
1273Jordan Brenthel6:57.994Leader
2285Justin Davis7:04.068+ 6.074
3297Jorge Sampietro7:05.008+ 7.014
4263EJ Herbst7:06.525+ 8.531
5258Maverick Gaunt7:12.460+ 14.466
6219Thor Herbst7:15.041+ 17.047
7242Connor McNeil7:15.955+ 17.961
8282Brent Fox7:16.462+ 18.468
9277Travis Williams7:18.167+ 20.172
10260Santiago Creel7:20.028+ 22.034
11245Ethan Hagle7:20.979+ 22.985
12259Matt Winslow7:22.2794+ 24.800
13241Stephen Beal7:26.331+ 28.337
14209Jose Ruvalcaba7:28.408+ 30.414
15294Vincent Muñoz7:28.930+ 30.936
16236Michael Marsal7:32.021+ 34.027
17205Joe Delucie7:23.342+ 36.348
18299Charles Dorrance7:34.428+ 36.434
19228Ryan Hancock7:38.382+ 40.388
20266David Zeigler7:40.138+ 42.144
21238Elijah Kiger7:40.267+ 42.274
22289Tanner Rust7:40.537+ 42.543
23207Mason Cullen7:32.163+ 45.168
24213Josh Beyer7:52.342+ 54.348
25203Mitch McNeil7:56.639+ 58.645
26224Miles Wyatt8:00.391+ 1:02.397
27290Isidro Ochoa8:30.349+ 1:32.355
28261Mick MagherDNFN/A
29200Jason McNeilDNFN/A
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Justin is not an off-road racer, but he writes about it for The Checkered Flag.
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