2008 Australian Rally Championship

The 2008 Australian Rally Championship Season is the 41st Season in the history of the competition.[1] This year once again there will be 6 classes in the competition and over 50 official drivers and 48 teams.

The Rallies

The 2008 Season has once again featured a total of 6 Rallies across Australia starting at the QUIT Rally until the final event at Coffs Harbour.[2]

Round Rally Date
1 QUIT Forest Rally 5–6 April
2 Rally of Canberra 10–11 May
3 Coates Rally Queensland 21–22 June
4 Sprints Auto Parts RallySA 26–27 July
5 T.A.S Tarmac Challenge 4–5 October
6 Coffs Coast Rally 15–16 November

Teams & Drivers

Officially, this season, there will be only one factory-built team competing in the competition. This will be the TTR (Toyota Team Racing) Team. They win the Manufacturer's title for the 3rd consecutive season by default, this is due to the Ford-based Focus RS team of last season pulling out and instead deciding to field a Subaru and changed their Name to PIRTEK LWR Rally Team.

There are other manufacturers competing as Privateer teams which don't represent the manufacturer unlike the TTR team which represents Toyota, such as the Evans Motorsport Team which uses a Subaru but isn't backed by the manufacturer. All in all, there will be over 50 drivers competing across numerous classes. The Super 2000 class will once again be the Top-Category which is followed by the Group N and the Privateers competition which sees privately owned teams competing.[3]

Team Manufacturer Number Driver Co-driver Class
TTR Toyota 1 Simon Evans Sue Evans Super 2000
2 Neal Bates Coral Taylor Super 2000
Simon Evans Motorsport Subaru 3 Eli Evans Chris Murphy Group N
Pirtek LWR Rally Team Subaru 4 Michael Guest David Green Group N
Japanese Wholesales Spares Ford 5 Darren Windus Jon Mortimer Super 2000
Access Hardware Mitsubishi 6 Spencer Lowndes Chris Randall Group N
Raymond Partner Accountants Toyota 7 Glen Raymond Matt Raymond Group NP
Daikin Motorsport Mitsubishi Nathan Quinn Craig Jones Privateers
Driver Skills Australia Subaru 15 Mark Butcher Lisa White Privateers
Fusion Motorsport Subaru Mitchell Hall Privateers
Dennis Dunlop Racing Mitsubishi Dennis Dunlop Jacqueline Dunlop Privateers
Ralliart Mitsubishi Molly Taylor Privateers
Activ Rallyesport Mitsubishi 10 Justin Dowel Lisa White Privateers
KME Rally Sport Mitsubishi Brendon Kaitler Vivek Samy Privateers
Kipling's Bakery Point Wakefield Mitsubishi Brett Kipling Darren Masters Privateers
Fullerton Financial Services Mitsubishi 11 Bruce Fullerton Hugh Reardon-Smith Privateers
12 Ryan Smart Rebecca Smart Privateers
Australian Plastic Profiles Mitsubishi David Hills David Callaghan Privateers
Secure Glass Racing Subaru Roman Watkins Toni Feaver Privateers
GSA Motorsport Mitsubishi Steven Stepheard Tom Smith Privateers
Redline Oil Subaru 17 Alex Stone Dianna Madlener Privateers
RMS Service Centre Subaru 19 Leigh Hynes Stuart Percival Privateers
Oz2000 Rallyesport Volkswagen S2000 Marius Swart Gerard McConkey Privateers
Barry Kirk Rallying Mazda 14 Barry Kirk Jahmeil Taylor F16
Molly Taylor Rallysport Mitsubishi 22 Molly Taylor F16
SR Automotive Toyota Stewart Reid John Allen Privateers
Rally Power Motorsport Daihatsu James Rodda Naomi Tillet F16
Marlin Australia Holden John Murray Senior Jeffrey Stevens Aussie Cup
Cullen Motorsport Ford Ben Cullen Mathew Cullen F16
Houghton Team Racing Subaru Richard Houghton Andrew Houghton Privateers

2008 Rallies

Broadcasting

The series will once again be broadcast on the Australian channel, Channel 10 which will have a 1-hour magazine-type show on Sunday afternoons, on the same week as the events are actually taking place and concluding. All of the events will be broadcast between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m on Sunday.[4]

Drivers Championship

Pos Driver Team Car Forest Canberra Queensland RallySA T.A.S. Coffs Coast Total
Heat1 Heat2 Heat1 Heat2 Heat1 Heat2 Heat1 Heat2 Heat1 Heat2 Heat1 Heat2
1 Neal Bates Toyota Racing Developments Toyota Corolla S2000 34 40 40 34 40 31 34 30 40 41 27 27 418
2 Eli Evans Simon Evans Motorsport Subaru Impreza WRX 22 30 34 30 40 30 40 51 60 337
3 Simon Evans Toyota Racing Developments Toyota Corolla S2000 40 1 30 40 40 35 30 34 60 7.5 318.5
4 Spencer Lowndes Access Hardware Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 12 26 22 26 20 26 26 26 34 33 33 284
5 Glen Raymond Raymond Partner Accountants Toyota Corolla Sportivo 10 22 20 12 22 22 14 22 30 21 51 246
6 Michael Guest Pirtek LWR Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRX 9 34 12 34 34 10 22 39 194
7 Justin Dowel Activ Rallyesport Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 30 18 14 16 20 22 30 9 159
8 Dennis Dunlop Dennis Dunlop Racing Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII 20 18 18 20 20 18 30 144
9 Nathan Quinn Daikin Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V 9 22 20 45 45 141
10 Molly Taylor Molly Taylor Rallysport
Ralliart 		Mitsubishi Mirage
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 		10 6 6 12 6 18 18 13.5 21 110.5
11 Ryan Smart Fullerton Financial Services Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 16 10 16 18 6 39 105
12 Darren Windus Japanese Wholesales Spares Ford Fiesta S2000 26 10 26 30 92
13 Brenton Kaitler KME Rally Sport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 20 16 26 26 88
14 Barry Kirk Barry Kirk Rallying Mazda RX-7 14 12 5 6 7 12 12 4.5 6 78.5
15 John Berne Subaru Impreza RS 9 7 9 8 9 9 9 13.5 73.5
16 Bruce Fullerton Fullerton Financial Services Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 18 16 15 24 73
17 Ben Cullen Cullen Motorsport Toyota Sprinter 7 5 8 7 16 14 12 69
17 Simon Knowles Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 10 9 10 10 12 18 69
19 Richard HOughton Houghton Team Racing Subaru Impreza WRX 8 8 8 12 10.5 15 61.5
20 Mark Butcher Driver Skills Australia Subaru Impreza WRX 16 14 16 14 60
21 Matt van Tuinen Subaru Impreza WRX 14 16 24 54
22 Steven Shepheard GSA Motorsport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo XI 14 22 16 52
23 David Hills Australian Plastic Profiles Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 18 14 12 44
24 John V. Murray Marlin Australia Subaru Impreza WRX 6 4 7 8 7.5 10.5 43
25 Roman Watkins Secure Glass Racing Subaru Impreza WRX 18 20 38
26 Marius Swart Oz2000 Rallyesport Volkswagen Polo S2000 12 6 7 10 35
27 Brett Kipling Kipling's Bakery Point Wakefield Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 14 20 34
28 Stewart Reid SR Automotive Toyota Corolla Sportivo 26 26
29 John Goasdoue Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI 18 18
30 Mitchell Hall Subaru Impreza WRX 5 5

References

  1. ^ "Official website of the NEC Australian Rally Championship". Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
  2. ^ "Official website of the Australian Rally Championship". Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
  3. ^ "Official website of the NEC Australian Rally Championship". Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
  4. ^ "Official website of the Australian Rally Championship". Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2008.