The entry list for the 2024 Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC) season opener has been confirmed with 30 ARC crews to tackle the Techworkz Automotive Rally of Canberra.

Headlining the entry list for the first round of the year are reigning champions Harry Bates and Coral Taylor, who will debut their new Toyota Yaris Rally 2 car in Canberra, and their Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia teammates Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin.

The two Toyota crews will have their hands full for the season opener with a strong pool of outright contenders, including Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall in their 2017 Skoda Fabia R5 and both of the Maguire Motorsport 2019 Skoda Fabia R5s of Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey and Steve Maguire and Ben Searcy.

View the full entry list.

Other regular outright ARC crews entered include the two IntelliSpatial Fleetcare Racing Hyundai i20s of Alex Rullo and Peter Rullo, with Steve Glenney and James Marquet calling the notes, the returning Tom Clark and Ryan Preston in their Ford Fiesta and Luff Motorsport’s Jamie and Brad Luff in their Toyota GR Yaris AP4.

The remaining outright crews entered in the round are ones that will enter with plenty of confidence, including Tony Sullens and Kaylie Newell in the Peugeot 208 AP4 and Josh Redhead, who acquired Nathan Quinn’s Hyundai i20 car itself and his co-driver, Ray Winwood-Smith, for the round.

The Mainfix ARC Production Cup once again has a strong field of 19 crews, with 2016 ARC champion Molly Taylor and Andy Sarandis first on the road, while the returning Ryan Williams and Brad Jones, Aidan Peterson and Mitchell Newton and Daniel Traverso with Anthony Carr are amongst those capable of winning the class.

In other classes, there are four crews entered in the Trenching Systems Australia 2WD Classic Cup, including reigning champion David Thompson and new co-driver Lachlan Nordsvan, two crews in both the ARC 2WD Cup and ARC Junior Cup, while the 4WD Classic Cup has one sole entrant.

With the round also hosting the Motorsport Australia New South Wales Rally Championship and the East Coast Classic Rally Series, a further 14 crews are entered in the event – taking the total entry list to 44.

View the Rally of Canberra entry list

Adrian Dudok expressed his excitement about the field overall.

“We are really pleased to have a strong field of the Techworkz Automotive Rally of Canberra, where there is a good range of national and state-level competitors entered,” Dudok said.

“The ARC is in a really strong position at the moment, and it’s fantastic to be able to kick off this highly anticipated season with an event where there are a number of crews who could win.

“We can’t wait to host both the best rally drivers in the country and within the state and we’re really looking forward to what should be an enjoyable weekend.”

The Techworkz Automotive Rally of Canberra takes place in the nation’s capital on 5-7 April.