Toby Price is switching his focus to his Dakar Rally defence after a disappointing end to his truck debut in the famous Baja 1000.

The factory KTM enduro rider joined American Jesse Jones for the 800 mile (1287.5km) off-road race which starts and ends at Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.

Drama hit the duo’s campaign when the Ford truck suffered a broken driveline at mile 125 with Jones at the wheel.

Price took over the truck after 175 miles and scythed his way through the field before a second drive line failure undone his work.

Mechanical issues continued with the pair losing the power steering after clipping a rock on the road.

Dropping 100 miles behind the field, the pair retried the truck after running out of spare parts at the 520 mile mark.

Although disappointed, Price says the experience has helped his Dakar preparations and is keen to return to the event next year.

“Now preparing for the Dakar Rally and getting really excited for that, there was some long days so it will all come in handy,” said Price.

“It’s a bit of a bummer, but we were driving fairly well and hopefully we can come back to the 50th anniversary of the Baja 1000 next year and derive again.”

Price will continue to step up his preparations for the 2017 Dakar Rally held from January 2-14.