It was another strong year for 2025 Motorsport Australia APX Suspension Queensland Rally Championship (QRC) winners Ian Menzies and Robert McGowan, as the pair secured their fifth State Championship in 10 years.
Menzies and McGowan, who have both been regular faces in the QRC for over a quarter of a century, approached the year like any other, one rally at the time.
Driving a Toyota Yaris AP4, the pair claimed three heat wins to drive forward their Championship charge, finishing almost 80 points ahead of their closest rivals.
“We were happy with the result,” Menzies said. “I mean, that was our goal for the season, winning the Championship and everything that came with that side of things.
“The Championship lead we had by the end of the season was probably not a proper reflection of the field of talent we had on offer this year, a few cars had a bit of bad luck compared to us.
“Queensland is a great state for rally and it’s a great community to be a part of. The passion from the other competitors in the Championship is up there with the best.
“Erik [Johnsson], Josh [Wiedman], and Clayton Hoy, are all as fast, if not faster than me. Clayton has always been head and shoulders above me, but he only did one event.
“Josh had some bad luck with his drivetrain coming apart on him at Rally Queensland, but I think he’ll be back strong next year.”
The season got off to an entertaining start, with Menzies and McGowan finishing the APX Suspension Blackbutt Rallysprint in just over 35 minutes, resulting in a tie for first place alongside Wiedman and Ryan Preston who finished with the same time. Each team received 25 points for the event.
To break the tie, a count back on stage second places revealed the pairing of Wiedman and Preston came second three times to Menzies and McGowan’s two, so Wiedman and Preston were declared event winners.
Clayton Hoy proved too strong at Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland for Round 2, collecting all three heat wins, but it failed to stop Menzies from collecting a strong points haul finishing with a third and two runner-up results in Gympie.
The two Rallysprints at Imbil and Jimbil were a tale of two stories, with Menzies and McGowan winning the former, and failing to complete the latter.
However, the pair would not need a strong result at the postponed season finale Quality Accounting Coffs Coast Rally, given their lead at the top of the standings following the penultimate round.
Menzies drove to a second-quickest Heat 1 time in Coffs Harbour, before doubling his efforts to claim Heat 2, securing 45 out of a possible 50 Championship points to open the final rally.
A third place finish in Heat 3 contributed to another strong year from the highly regarded pair and brought Menzies’ points total to 167 and McGowan’s to 176.
As for the immediate future for Menzies and McGowan, both driver and co-driver will enjoy a barbecue this Sunday to reflect on the season just gone, before solidifying plans for 2026.
“As for next year, we’re pretty set on going around again in the Toyota Yaris, it’s a car we both enjoyed in 2025, so we should be back again next year,” Menzies added.
The 2025 QRC title is added to the pair’s trophy cabinet, following Championship wins tallied in 2023, 2020, 2018 and 2015.
Other class winners for the year included Mitchell and Brent Plant claiming both the 2WD QRC category and Junior QRC category. David Micjan and Kevin O’Connor secured the Acworth Recruitment Clubman Series, and the Woolgoolga Service Centre Novice Series went to Kristian Sprenger and Jarrad Vanderhor.
