Travis Robinson (#1) has claimed back-to-back victories in the Tatts Finke Desert Race, arriving first back to Alice Springs following another impressive drive on Race Day 2.
Alongside navigator Paul Currie, the pair proved to be untouchable, completing the race in a total of 3 hours, 23 minutes and 6 seconds.
The victory marks three consecutive wins for the Robinson family in the car category, with brother Beau winning in 2024, and Travis in 2025 and 2026.
Celebrating the commanding win with a 9 minute 17 second advantage, Travis also announced his 2026 victory would likely be his last, instead wanting to focus on the next generation.
“I think this will be the last Finke that we do. We’ll put the effort into the number two truck and the next generation to come back to see if we can do it another ten years.” 2026 Tatts Finke Desert Race winner Travis Robinson said.
“I am content with what we have done, I should have won one in my twenties but I didn’t and just to be in the conversation with just a few of the great people who have won this race is special”
New Zealander Boston Morgan-Horan (#489) improved on his 2025 result, placing second at the Tatts Finke Desert Race.
Boston and navigator Will Haddock did put pressure on Travis’ lead, however they faced similar issues to yesterday, snapping a rim following a jump only 30 to 40km from the finish line.
The pair made it back to the finish line 9 minutes and 17 seconds behind Tavis, which showcased their talent behind the wheel considering the problems faced on both days of racing.
“I love it, the whole community comes together, you can’t replace it, the crowd is awesome with thousands of people coming through the town.” Boston Morgan-Horan said.
“We just landed off one of the jumps, snapped a rim and the brake came off but we still got here”
“I just set a nice pace, nice and cruisy, wasn’t going like I was yesterday because I didn’t know who I was catching to be honest”
The battle for the final podium position proved to be the closest fought, with third, fourth and fifth finishing within one minute of each other, and kept audiences on their feet into the last twists and turns of the 446km route.
Two-time Tatts Finke Desert Race winner, Hayden Bentley (#818) claimed the final podium position, 19 years after his first outright victory in the cars in 2007.
Hayden and Navigator Viv Coe finished 22 minutes and 13 seconds behind the leaders, using their experience to pip their competitors.
“Wow that is one hell of a track and boy some of these guys can drive, people do not get the magnitude of what these guys are doing!” Hayden Bentley exclaimed.
“I’ve got a race car again, it didn’t miss a beat, I am learning it and I think it can only get better from here.”
The #51 V8 powered Jimco of Michael Zacka and Dylan Blake snapped at the heels of Bentley on the return leg and posted the third quickest time back to Alice Springs, but had to settle for 4th outright and first in the Pro Buggy Class for the second year running. While Brad Gallard and Dean Keyes powered the #454 Geiser to 5th outright, ahead of the father and son team of Mark and Tom Burrows piloting their Aussie built Monk Fab Pro Buggy in 6th outright.
Freestyle Motocross rider Robbie Maddison (#437) drove his 2WD Trophy Truck to seventh, ahead the #33 Probuggy of Shannon Rentsch and Darren Mollenoyux in eighth outright, the #434 TSCO Trophy Truck of Brett Comiskey and Corey Cooper in 9th, while the #52 Element Probuggy of Roydn Bailey and Simon Herrmann sealed the top ten outright.
Seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes (#715) finished the Tatts Finke Desert Race as the winner of the Production 4WD class.
In Super 1650 Clay Agnew with navigators Jamie Lightfoot and Abbey Mowles maintained a strangehold on the class honours all weekend in their #235 1600cc powered Hornet. #1009 Patrick Geraghty drove his single seater to the Sportslite class win.
Piloting their #585 5.7 litre V8 Ranger, Michael Shipton and Paul Chorlton took a comfortable victory in the Performance 2wd Class, however second in class, Russ Cullen and Jeremy Beck were easily the crowd favourites in their #583 Holden Kingswood. Racing the four hour time limit on the return leg, the WA team finished back in Alice Springs with a slender 32 seconds up their sleeve,
Glenn Ackroyd and Mick Price were the quickest in the popular SXS Pro Class, securing 12th outright in their #601 CanAm. While #6634 John White and Jack Briggs took the SXS Sport Class honours in their Honda.
Full results from the car category for the 2026 Tatts Finke Desert Race can be viewed here.
