The 2026 Motorsport Australia Queensland Rally Championship (QRC) is officially underway following a competitive opening round at the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland in Gympie.
Following the postponement of the Blackbutt Rally in March, the QRC made its long anticipated return in 2026.
Leading the 35 crews for the event were Andrew Carrigan and Liam Hinschen in the #32 Mitsubishi Magna with the pair only falling outside of the top five in two out of the 12 stages, outlining a consistent performance throughout the event.
Carrigan and Hinschen’s highlight of the weekend finally came on SS8, claiming their only stage win for the rally by one second, just ahead of P5 class competitors Kristian Sprenger and Jarrad Vanderhor.
By the end, Carrigan and Hinschen closed out the event by 38 seconds (1:04:27.2), outlasting reigning State Champions Ian Menzies and Robert McGowan (1:06:53.6).
Menzies and McGowan had set the benchmark for the majority of the weekend, tallying six stage wins throughout the weekend, but a 21st-quickest time on SS7 had set the pair back substantially in their Toyota Yaris AP4 and were unable to complete the outright comeback – albeit still able to claim the class win.
Rounding out the outright podium were #16 Subaru Impreza WRX crew Nathan Stokes and Ian Wheeler (1:07:21.2), who remained composed to finish with a 100 per cent success rate of top 10 stage finishes to trail the runners-up by just under four minutes and two minutes ahead of Simon and Elysia Jansen (1:08:01.7).
Stokes and Wheeler claimed the P5 class win as a result, while the Jansens did the same in the P6 grouping. Other class winners included Mitchell and Brent Plant, securing P2 honours in their #48 Hyundai Excel for being fastest among the Junior competitors.
Keith Fackrell and Brad Jones excelled at the top of the Clubman category in their Ford Escort RS1800, meanwhile John Keen and Matt Spencer finished 16th outright to finish atop the P3 runners.
The attrition rate in Gympie was also on full display, as a total of 16 crews were unable to complete the rally, highlighting the level of difficulty the Gympie course has to offer.
The next round of the Queensland Rally Championship heads to Jimna for the Jimna Rally Sprint on 6 June, unless the Blackbutt Rally is rescheduled for the wet weather contingency weekend from 2-4 May.
Head to the Australian Rally Championship’s Rally Queensland results page on the Sportity app for the full QRC results breakdown.
