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The fourth and final round of the Australian Tarmac Rally Championship was held at the magnificent Mt Baw Baw on the 26th and 27th of October.
40 teams lined up to take on the 18 stages of some of the country's tightest, most twisty and steepest tarmac, culminating in a massive 32km sprint to the top of the mountain.
Despite 4 inches of snow falling on the mountain days before the event, delighting the photographers but raising the eyebrows of many competitors, the weather cleared and was perfect conditions for two days of rallying on one of Australia's best tarmac rally stages.
SUPER RALLY
Jason and Fiona Wright (Nissan R35) were keen to make amends for their mechanical retirement from Great Tarmac Rally and came out of the blocks firing. They would win all twelve stages on day one to take a 3-minute lead over Jeremy Dennison and Casey Rumble (BMW M140i) after the pair spun tantalisingly close to the finish line on SS12, with Ben Williams and Bruce Bush (Toyota GR Yaris) a further 5:30 back.
Dennison would be plagued by a returning transmission fault, dropping to 6 minutes behind the hard-charging Wright, before calling it quits and parking the BMW at the lunch break on day 2. The Wrights would charge on, aiming for an outright win, leaving Williams to have a lonely race in seconds, some 15 minutes in arrears.
MODERN 2WD
Paul Dowie and the once again retired John Allen (Porsche GT3 RS) also aimed to make up for their poor start to the Great Tarmac Rally by taking on the field from the outset, taking out every stage except one in a dominant display.
Mark Griffith and Neill Wooley (Mercedes Benz AMG GTR) along with Laura and Gavin Rogers (Porsche Cayman GTS) would battle it out for second place before Griffith made a charge halfway through the first day, also denying Dowie a clean sweep of stage wins.
However, Dowie was unmatched, taking out the class by over 4 minutes from Griffith, with Rogers 3:40 back in third.
MODERN AWD
Crichton Lewis and Anthony Carr (Subaru WRX STi) were on a mission and battled early on with Scott Coppleman and Matt Van Roye (Subaru WRX STi), with both taking multiple stage wins throughout day one.
David and Jackie Thirwall (Audi RS3) and David Kennedy / Rhys Llewellyn (Toyota GR Yaris) would battle it out for the minors.
Barrie and Jan Smith (Audi TTRS) made their move in the early stages before a leaking exhaust melted some wiring and saw the pair retire. Lewis would end day one a mere 30 seconds ahead of Coppleman, with Thirlwall clinging to third.
Lewis and Coppleman would resume their battle on day 2, however, Lewis was too strong and consistently pulled a small gap in the final stages, taking the class by nearly a minute over Coppleman.
Thirlwall was holding out third by just 11 seconds over Kennedy before retiring in SS16, handing the final podium step to Kennedy.
EARLY MODERN 2WD
Fresh from their European racing stint, husband and wife pairing of Paul and Claire Buccini (BMW 1M) were on the pace from the outset, building a lead of over 3 minutes ahead of Mark Balcombe and Ian Wheeler (Mazda RX7 FD3S SP) while fellow husband and wife team Steve and Cate Winning (Maserati Gransport) struggled to keep up the lead two.
Winning would push a little too hard, beaching the car off-road on SS15 and retiring.
Buccini would push on, extending the lead over Balcombe before the ever-reliable BMW began overheating, forcing them to park up on SS17, leaving Balcombe to take out the class unopposed.
EARLY MODERN AWD
Former champions Allan and Kerry Hines (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X) had an early charge, before Michael Mansey /Julie Winton-Monet (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X RS) Neil and Sue Cuthbert, driving their Mitsubishi Lancer, mastered the course and surged ahead to take the lead. Mansey would lead Cuthbert by over 40 seconds before a failing clutch on SS11 saw them tumble down the leaderboard before ultimately retiring.
Justin Waterhouse/Adrian Bryant (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X) along with Allan Rumble and Brett Williams (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10 RS) would battle it out for third, with both taking time from each other throughout the later stages.
However, Ryan Verner and Shane Bennett in the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X confidently surged ahead, catching everyone off guard. Verner dominated SS16 by firmly taking 4th position and quickly eliminated the gap to Waterhouse, ultimately snatching 3rd place by an impressive 43 seconds.
Hines would continue to hunt down Cuthbert but had nothing to stop the dominance as Cuthbert crossed the line 2:40 ahead of Hines.
CLASSIC SUPER RALLY
The stoush between Jonathon Moir/ Brad Jones (Ford Escort MkII) and Mick Downey/Jarrod Akker (Holden Group C Commodore) was on from the outset, with Moir dominants over Downey as the nimble Escort relished the twisting stages. Moir ran wide on SS8, slipping on the roadside debris and impacting the bank hard, resulting in a spin, but was fortunate enough to recover and carry on. Downey pounced on Moirs' stumble and finished day one 30 seconds ahead.
Moir would fight back, while fellow Escort driver Adrian Cauchi and Greg McDonald (Ford Escort MkI) would struggle to keep up with the lead two.
Moir took the lead back on SS15 and stormed away in a slick performance, taking the class by nearly two minutes over Downey, with Cauchi a massive 20 minutes further back in third.
CLASSIC
After their crash at the Great Tarmac Rally, father and son pairing Michael and Lachlan Nordsvan (Mazda RX7) were in a borrowed car, determined to keep their championship alive. With only Bruce Power and Russell Hannah (Mazda RX7) to contend with, the pair would battle it out early on, with both Nordsvan and Power swapping stage wins throughout day one.
Nordsvan gained confidence in the later stages and won the class by 3:45 over Power.
EARLY CLASSIC
Being the single entrant in Early Classic, Robin and Peter Lowe (Datsun 240z) needed only to finish to take the class, but that didn’t stop them from using the event to fine-tune not only the car but themselves as well, finishing a very respectable 26th outright.
RALLY CHALLENGE
Another single entry in the class saw the ever-present Fiat 124 AC Coupe of David Currow and Colin Carati use the twisting course to hone their note-calling skills, obviously taking the class win but finishing 31st outright.
RALLY SPORT
Matthew Gibbens and Tim Jurd (Lotus Exige) have raised some eyebrows, as despite being in a speed-restricted class, the pair would spend the entire event in the top 3 outright.
Gibbens would power away from others in the class, leaving Luana Garwood and Suzanne Atkins (VW Golf), to battle it out for the minors with newcomers Dane Stokes and Nick Seymour (Ford Escort MKII) and Peter Gandolfi/Kristian Downing (Skoda Octavia).
Gibbens would finish day one 13 minutes ahead of Garwood, with Gandolfi over 2 minutes further back. Garwood would suffer an engine failure in SS16, while Gibbens walked away to a 30-minute lead from Gandolfi, with Stokes a further 3 minutes behind.
OUTRIGHT
The usual suspects of Jason Wright, Paul Dowie, Matthew Gibbens, Crichton Lewis and Jonathon Moir would be in the fight for outright contention from the first stage, with Scott Coppleman, Allan Hines, Neil Cuthbert and Mick Downey ready to take advantage should anyone slip up.
Gibbens would take the fight to Wright all the way, holding out second just a minute behind, before Dowie put in an extraordinary drive on the final stage to snatch second by just 5 seconds over Gibbens. But neither had anything for Wright, who took out the overall competition by over a minute.
The ever-reliable Lewis held down fourth, 58 seconds ahead of Coppleman, with Moir impressing everyone taking out 6th overall in the second-ever event for the freshly built Escort.
1st Jason Wright/Fiona Wright Nissan R35
2nd Paul Dowie/John Allen Porsche GT3RS
3rd Matthew Gibbens/Tim Jurd Lotus Exige
4th Crichton Lewis/Anthony Carr Subaru WRX STi
5th Scott Coppleman/ Matt Van Roye Subaru WRX STi
6th Jonathon Moir/Brad Jones Ford Escort MKII
7th Mick Downey/Jarrod Akker Holden Group C Commodore
8th Mark Griffith/Neill Wooley Mercedes Benz AMG GTR
9th Neil Cuthbert/Sue Cuthbert Mitsubishi Lancer
10th Allan Hines/Kerry Hines Mitsubishi Lance EVO X
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