Top level rallying returns with the first round of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC) in Tasmania on February 26th. The Season opener, the 27th running of Rally Tasmania, a tarmac event based in Burnie, is a tarmac favourite with challenging roads, made famous by many drivers including tarmac rally legend Jim Richards.
The 2010 Rally Tasmania / Classic Rally competition covers spectacular mountain and valley areas within a 100km radius of the City and returns to Burnie at the end of each day. A revised calendar has been released for the ARC 2010 competition has also been released. Changes were made to the draft to accommodate the Formula 1 GP in Melbourne and added the new Victorian based round.
The revised calendar is:
Tasmania 26th- 28th February Rally Tasmania
Western Australia 17th - 18th April Forest Rally
NSW 15th – 16th May - Coffs Coast Rally
South Australia 26th – 27th June – Rally SA
Queensland 31st July - 1st August (APRC) International Rally QLD
Victoria 13-14th November (Cerberus Car Club) Name TBA
ARCom were mindful that competitors had commented on the short time between each round this year and have set a calendar to reflect those views and taking into account needs of each round and the APRC calendar.
Kumho Tyres have been named as the control tyre supplier for 2010. 2 years of negotiation and consultation were undertaken to introduce a control tyre that would benefit all stakeholders. ARC organisers have awarded the control tyre rights to Kumho Tyres who stood out for their value and support planned for the Championship.
Ben Rainsford, Chairman of the ARC said “We welcome Kumho on board for the ARC next year. They demonstrated that they want to be part of the ARC and partner with us marketing the Championship via their presence at Service Parks and in their own marketing activities. Kumho have confirmed a transparent pricing model for their tyres from ARC to club level.
Competitors will pay the same price for their tyres regardless of event status. In conjunction with Kumho we are working on a success and talent based reward for those competing and we hope to emphasise those who “step up” from State Championship level. We recognise there are plenty on the edge of competing at national level and this assistance might help. Reducing the cost of tyres for all is great step forward in reducing costs to compete.”
“A standard 195/65/15 will be capped at $220 which for any rally tyre is great value and this process is for all competitors at any level,” John Mills from Kumho said.
Nathan Quinn who plans to compete in the ARC for 2010 in his Lancer EVO 9 commented “The control tyre decision is great for me as a privateer as I don’t have the excuse that I don’t have the same tyre as the front runners. Rallying is supposed to be a test of driver skill and car reliability, not a test of how big your wallet is – and I think you will see more crews run in the ARC now they now they can compete with the big boys on equal tyre terms.” I think you will see some surprise results – I have run on Kumho before and they were great!”
The Cerberus Car Club in Victoria will take up the Victorian round of the ARC on 13th and 14th of November. The event will be the final round of both the Australian and Victorian Rally Championships and will take place on Saturday 13th of November. The event promoter is the Cerberus Car Club Inc with Clerk of Course, Alan Mackay heading up a team of experienced officials and rally organisers.
The event will take place on roads not used by an Australian Rally Championship event since the 1970’s and some roads will be familiar to the local Victorian championship rally crews. Planned to be held primarily within the Baw Baw Shire using the popular forest roads around the Nojoee - Neerim district, the event will be based in the nearby town of Drouin located just over 100km from Melbourne’s CBD and is easily accessed by the Monash and Prince’s freeways. A new top level team has announced their participation for 2010 in the ARC.
The teams of Ryan & Rebecca Smart and Simon & Margot Knowles will join forces and both campaign ex Neal Bates Motorsports Toyota Corolla Group N (P) cars. Ryan showed great potential during 2009 competing in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI with a podium finish in Queensland and consistent top five finishes throughout the year. “The Group N(P) Corolla will take me to the next step with more podium finishes in 2010 and stronger contender for the championship next year”. He said.
The ARC expects a number of other top level crews to return to the 2010 season with 2009 winner Simon Evans working hard on a Mitsubishi EVO 1X deal.
