The Rally Whitsundays has enjoyed a successful maiden outing at the Whitsunday Motoring Festival with more than 30 cars entering the P3 Solutions CAMS Queensland Rally Championship (QRC) season opener.

 

Hosted by the Whitsunday Sporting Car Club, the rally was the headline act for the North Queensland town’s popular festival as the crews put on a show for crowds in excess of 2000 on the various stages. 

 

Behind the wheel of the VW Polo S2000 Marius Swart and Alan Stean were crowned victors of the inaugural event, finishing ahead of 2018 QRC Junior Champions Brayden and Blake Wilson in their Mitsubishi Evo 6.

 

Rounding out the podium was were the classic Toyota KE30 Corolla pilots Craig Aggio and Megan Benson.

 

Following on from the club's first major event, club secretary Karen Scott believed the event was a resounding success. 

 

“It was a fantastic day and went really well because everyone was on the same page and we worked together to pull off such a big event,” Scott said.

 

"While we had some big crowds on the street stages, a lot of people didn’t really know about it. It’s a learning experience and we know how to get more spectator interest for next year.

 

“It was the first time we had ever run anything like this, but we got a lot of help from the Brisbane Sporting Car Club, Townsville City Autosports Club and Whitsunday Regional Council who helped make the event a success.

 

“Competitors, spectators and the locals were all blown away with the event, which is gives us a lot of confidence for next year.”

 

Coming in outright fourth place was Melinda Bergmann and Larisa Biggar in the Zonta Whitsundays Mitsubishi Lancer.

 

With the event promoting Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Prevention, Biggar praised both the event and the community for its support of the Zonta campaign

 

“It was really great, the whole community got involved and it was amazing to see all the support the rally received throughout the day.

 

“The festival did an amazing job to put on the show that they did.

 

“The very high speed stages were quite exhilarating and required us as drivers to be on our toes. The roads were in good condition and the council even built a little bridge for us which was nice. They did a lot of work in the lead up. 

 

“As [the festival] was also promoting domestic violence prevention, I was really proud of the rally community spreading the message to all the fans and spectators throughout the weekend.”

 

The next round of the P3 Soloutions CAMS Queensland Rally Championship will be in Manumbar for the QRC 2 SR Automotive Manumbar Rally on 15 June.