Maitland’s Toby Price achieved his sixth top five finish of the 2015 Dakar Rally overnight, as the second of the event’s two marathon two stages began on the 891-kilometre road from Calama to Salta.

Joan Barreda won the 371km timed component of the stage ahead of defending champion Marc Coma and Ruben Faria, with Australian Price just 17 seconds further down the road from such qualified company in fourth place.

The marathon classification means that for the second time in the event, riders will again have no access to their teams overnight, placing a premium on careful management of the machine, and particularly of tyres, tomorrow.

For Price, the result has seen him gain more than four minutes on third-placed Chilean Pablo Qunitanilla, and incredibly, the three-time Finke Desert Race winner is now only by 24 seconds behind and a real chance of a podium position in his maiden Dakar.

With many kilometres of inhospitable terrain to go however, including tomorrow’s 512 kilometres between Salta and Termas Rio Hondo, competitors who wish to make all their effort pay off will have to exercise maximum vigilance.