The entry list for this month’s Forest Rally has been set with a bumper field of 59 crews confirmed to tackle the popular Western Australian event.

Serving as the second round of the 2024 Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC) season, 33 crews are locked in for the national component of the event, while a further 26 local crews will contest the Motorsport Australia WA Rally Championship and Clubman components.
 
Headlining the ARC field are the two Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia entries of reigning champions Harry Bates and Coral Taylor and 2022 champions Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin, who will be looking to build on their one-two finish at last month’s Techworkz Automotive Rally of Canberra.

There is no shortage of big stars hoping to break Toyota’s dominance, including Pedders Suspension and Brakes’ Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall, Poly Welding Solutions’ Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey and IntelliSpatial Fleetcare Racing’s Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney, who are coming off a maiden ARC podium in Canberra.

Rullo isn’t the only local driver up the top end of the seed list, with West Australians Dylan King and Abbey Hayes a dark horse for a good result in the DJK CIVIL Toyota Yaris AP4.

The Mainfix ARC Production Cup once again has strong representation, with an impressive 17 crews to contest the popular class.

Leading the charge of Production cars is 2016 ARC champion, Molly Taylor and co-driver Andy Sarandis, as well as local stars Craig Rando and Scott Beckwith, who will be looking to improve on their remarkable ARC debut last year, which saw the Rando Constructions crew finish on the Production Cup podium and in the outright top 10.

Other notable crews in the class include rising stars Joshua Wiedman and Nick Reid, Victory’s Nathan Stokes and Ian Wheeler and BMG Autos’ Glenn Alcorn and Jonathan Charlesson, who lead the local charge in the Cup.

There are a few crews cross-entered in the Mainfix ARC Production Cup and the Trenching Systems Australia 2WD Classic Cup, including reigning classic champions Dave Thompson and Matthew Sanders and Trailer Camper Australia & CBR Sparkies’ Peter Dimmock and Paul Bennett.

View the full Forest Rally entry list here.

Event Clerk of the Course Ross Tapper was looking forward to having the best crews in the country at the longstanding Western Australian event. 

 
“We are extremely pleased to have a field of more than 30 ARC crews with up to 14 of them coming from interstate,” Tapper said.

“Not only do we have a big entry list, but it is an extremely strong field and there is a handful of drivers who could win the rally, so it will be quite entertaining from a sporting point of view.

“This is the 40th year since the rally became the WA Round of the ARC, having run continuously since 1985, with only COVID-19 stopping us running as an ARC round in 2020.

“With that said, we have once again refreshed the event with a Rally Show and Ceremonial Start at the Busselton Jetty Foreshore on the Friday night and a shake-up of stages in Nannup on Saturday.

“We are proud to bring something new to the event around the brilliant Nannup plantation roads, which will undoubtedly bring exciting action to the region.”

The 2024 Forest Rally takes place in and around the forests of Nannup and Busselton on 17-19 May.