The Make Smoking History Forest Rally is back in 2020, bigger and better than previous years.

 

With a new service park, new stages and more competitive kilometres likely to be added, crews can expect a ramped up edition of the popular West Australian event.

 

While event organisers are still finalising the itinerary for the Saturday and Sunday stages, Clerk of Course John Gibbons was confident the event would be a hit with crews, officials and spectators. 

 

“We’re looking really good for next year. It’s quite exciting and I can’t wait for it,” Gibbons said.

 

“We have the new service park that we are doing around the Nannup Recreation and Community Centre and it should be a great rally hub. Hopefully with such a nice service park, we will have a strong atmosphere for the whole rally.

 

“It’s looking like a good solid event in terms of stages. Having around 220 kilometres should be good for the crews. This time of year is a bit dry and dusty but everything is looking nice and hopefully it stays like this until next year.

 

“I had a drive of one of the stages this week and it felt really good. Some of the areas around here are really lovely. I may be bias, but I think we have some of the best roads in the country.”

 

Throughout the weekend, crews will be tackling 220 competitive kilometres across 17 stages with the Super Special Stage to take place on the Friday evening at Barnard Park in nearby Busselton.

 

Saturday will also see the inclusion of two new stages, while Sunday’s Range special stage has received a slight tweak, with the popular to stage to also run on Saturday, making the event one of the more challenging for competitors.

 

After enjoying the season opener slot in 2019, the soon to be finalised Forest Rally now moves back to the second round of the year, which was a pleasing prospect for Gibbons.

 

“It’s great to be the second round now. After what should be a great round in Canberra, the championship and the crews will be in the swing of things and they will come to the west fully focused,” Gibbons explained.

 

“We’ll have ball bearing gravel which is a real challenge for the east coast guys. It lets the local WA guys really compete with the big boys from the east. Our super special stage near Busselton Jetty is quite picturesque and it will look great next year.

 

“We are waiting on approval before we can announce the full course, as well as waiting for the council because they are developing the foreshore which we can incorporate into the stage there.

 

“We are really excited for what should be a huge 2020.” 

 

The Make Smoking History Forest Rally will be the second round of the 2020 Motorsport Australia Rally Championship and will take place around Nannup and Busselton on 17-19 April.