Entries for the 2024 Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC) season opener are being accepted with the official Supplementary Regulations now available.

Taking place in the rural New South Wales town of Pooncarie in April, this year’s Wentworth Shire Pooncarie Desert Dash will open an AORC campaign for the first time since joining the national stage in 2022.
 
And there will be very few changes to the event’s format from previous years, with more than 420 competitive kilometres over two sections awaiting Australia’s best crews.
 
Heavy rain in the lead up to last year’s race saw the organising club, the Sunraysia Motorsport Club, forced to make adjustments to the event – the major being the track extending to 106 kilometres.
 
View the Supplementary Regulations.

The new course proved a hit with crews, and as a result, organisers have kept the same distance and structure, with Prologue to run on Saturday morning and the first lap of the 106-kilometre course in the afternoon.
 
Crews will then complete another three laps on Sunday to wrap up the first round of the 2024 season.
 
Entries for the event will be open until 11:59pm AEDT on Friday 5 April, with interested crews able to enter the event via the Motorsport Australia Member Portal.
 
Fast becoming a popular event amongst AORC crews, the Pooncarie Desert Dash has welcomed strong numbers in its previous two editions and Clerk of Course Troy Bennett was hopeful another big field would turn out again this year.
 
“We have had two really good rounds since joining the AORC and I am expecting that this could be our biggest year yet,” Bennett said.
 
“Being the opening round of a national championship has plenty of prestige to it, as it offers a clean slate and a fresh start for crews who want to have a proper crack for the season.
 
“I also think that the season starting in April gives people that extra time to get their cars ready to go and plenty of time to prepare for both our event and the Tatts Finke Desert Race in June.
 
“With all that in mind, I am hopeful that we get similar numbers we have had in previous years and look forward to welcoming the best crews in Australia to Pooncarie.”
 
Enter the Pooncarie Desert Dash.
 
The Wentworth Shire Pooncarie Desert Dash kicks off the 2024 AORC season in Pooncarie on 19-21 April.