There might only be four weeks left in the year, but rallying across the Tasman is finishing with a real bang, with events receiving big fields.
A second consecutive COVID-19 interrupted year has left competitors champing at the bit to get out and scratch their itches (so to speak), and event organisers have been the winners.
Last week, the four-day Adelaide Rally tarmac event received an incredible 400 entries, showcasing the very best vehicles that money can buy.
Admittedly, 300 of those were in the lower speed tour categories, but there were 100 cars in the competition and challenge classes in a rally that included everything from a Fiat 500 to a McLaren 720S.
At the head of the field it was Targa Tasmania winner, Eddie Maguire, who took the win in his 8.4-litre Dodge Viper, ahead of Jeff Morton’s Porsche.
Former Alpine Rally winner, Jack Monkhouse, took out the classics in his much-used Datsun 180B SSS after a dominant drive on his home roads.
Future star, Max McRae, had been lying inside the top 10 in his Ford Fiesta R2 until a final day off-road excursion put an end to his rally. The crash caused significant damage to the car he plans to use in next year’s national championship.
Fittingly, the Adelaide Rally was the scene of Ross Dunkerton’s final competitive event, driving the Group A Mitsubishi Galant VR4 that he had enjoyed so much success in in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
This weekend, 60 crews are back on the gravel for the final round of the Victorian Rally Championship, the Gippsland Rally in the state’s east.
A bunch of national series regulars will be behind the wheel again, including past champions Eli Evans (Mini Cooper AP4) and Nathan Quinn (Lancer Evo X), state series leader Darren Windus (Subaru WRX), and drivers with NZ experience, Richie Dalton (Ford Escort) and Brendan Reeves (Datsun 1600).
The rally was originally a round of the Australian Rally Championship, but COVID put an end to that, for this year at least. Many crews have entered the rally to get experience ahead of the rally’s return to the ARC in 2022.
Speaking of the ARC, the championship’s final round will be held the weekend after, on December 11, with a one-day shoot-out that should see Toyota’s Harry Bates crowned as champion for the second time.
Bates has dominated the two rounds held so far in his AP4 Yaris, and easily leads his brother, Lewis, in the title race.
The finale will be held at the Monaro Stages in the south east of New South Wales, a rally that hasn’t been included in the series before.
Again, COVID has thrown everything into disarray, and the rally was chosen based on it already being a round of the NSW series, and that it would enable a three-round ARC to crown a champion.
Some competitors, however, are already fearing they’ll miss the event because of extended restrictions and quarantine rules that are still in place in some states.
In particular, Queensland competitors are likely to have to either quarantine on their return home from the rally or, at best, spend six days in NSW before their state Premier allows them to return home when borders open on the 17th.
It’s not the ideal outcome, but at least the rally looks likely to be held, meaning that the 2021 season can finish on a high.
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