One of the most popular rally events on the New South Wales calendar is taking place this weekend, with the North Shore Sporting Car Club’s Lazer Rally of the Bay.
 
While weather has disrupted the event in recent years, this year’s competition will be a combination of new roads and old favourites making up the rally this Saturday.

Based out of the Hoosier Service Park, the event will bring together 51 crews across six different state championships and series. To facilitate this busy day of action, the day will see these championships spread across two simultaneous events.

Headlined by the Motorsport Australia NSW Rally Championship, state championship competitors will be tackling the Bay Stages, which is made up of 172 competitive kilometres over 10 stages. Also contesting the Bay Stages will be the East Coast Classic Rally Series and the Techworkz Automotive ACT Regional Rally Series.

Another competition, the Bay Rumble, will be made up of 154 competitive kilometres across eight stages and includes crews entered in the Clubman Rally Series and Hyundai Rally Series.

Headlining the overall field is the event's reigning winner Richie Dalton, who is making his first rally appearance for the year alongside new co-driver Jared Hudson. Dalton will be paired with the Toyota Yaris AP4 that he took to third in last season's Motorsport Australia Rally Championship.

The event will see Dalton unveil a new livery on the Yaris, with the Irish-born driver sporting an Irish flag livery in tribute to the late Craig Breen.


Plenty of other notable ARC drivers will also make the start line. Tom Clarke and Ryan Preston will pilot a Datsun Stanza, and West Australian Daniel Gonzalez will steer his Skoda Fabia R5 alongside Bernie Webb.
 
Other notable crews include Tony Sullens and Kaylie Newell, Josh Redhead and Ray Winwood-Smith and drivers Riley Walters, Sean McAloon and Michael Harding.

While entries to compete have closed, the North Shore Sporting Car Club is still eagerly looking for officials to help the event run smoothly, and spectators are also welcome to attend.

More information, including the entry list, supplementary regulations and spectator instructions, can be found on the Lazer Rally of the Bay website.

The 2023 Lazer Rally of the Bay will take place on Saturday 29 July, with competition starting at Hoosier Service Park.