Entries for the CAMS Australian Rally Championship’s fourth round of 2019 are now open with Australia’s best rally crews to do battle in Victoria’s west.
Competitors wanting to take part in the Pedders Eureka Rush have until Friday 2 August to enter, with the round also part of the FIA Asia Pacific Cup and the Hino Geelong Victorian Rally Championship.
Taking place in and around the forests of Ballarat and Beaufort, crews will be tackling 120 competitive kilometres across 10 special stages.
Click here to enter.
After hosting the ARC season opener last year in March, the change of date allowed the event to undergo a number of changes in order to mix it up for competitors.
Most notably, it’s been cut in half and reduced to just one day of action, replicating the Netier National Capital Rally’s two heats in one-day format.
Different roads and stages have also been incorporated into the new-look Victorian round, with the forests to offer a host of challenges to each competitor.
Pedders Eureka Rush Clerk of Course Andrew Roseman was confident competitors, crews and spectators would enjoy the new look event.
“The event is looking really good at this stage,” Roseman said.
“The roads are in excellent condition. Obviously our plans are coming into play now for setting everything up in Ballarat and Beaufort.
“We are using a new area with high quality logging roads, west of Ballarat and these roads have not had this level of rallying for more than 20 years so they are really high quality logging roads.
“While there are some that will be fast and flowing, there will be others that are tight and technical will give a good mix for the drivers.”
Similar to the Netier National Capital Rally, the event will mainly be run over one day with the exception of the Super Special Stage taking place after the Ceremonial start on Saturday evening.
Roseman believed the one-day event format is good for the sport as it reduces the price for competitors to enter.
“While the format reduces the overall cost and time away from home for competitors, it’s also great from an entertainment point of view because of the intensity it creates,” Roseman added.
“It adds a lot of excitement for crews to have to compete over the two-heat structure in one day and relies on crews not making mistakes out in the forest.
“It will be great rallying at this time of year in Ballarat on new roads with a new format because now any result is possible.”
Last year’s winners Harry Bates and John McCarthy currently lead the 2019 standings after enjoying the perfect start to the season with three wins from three rounds – they’ll be looking to further cement their Championship lead with another strong performance but can expect plenty of challengers throughout the field.