Having sponsored a number of the rounds of the 1989 ARC, BP became the major sponsor of the series for 1990 and 1991. The sponsorship did not continue into 1992.
Controversy!
The 1991 ARC was unusual for at least three reasons. The first was that the reigning champions, Ed Ordynski and Mark Nelson, did not compete, having decided to pursue a program of mostly overseas events in the WRC Group N championship. Second, although the six rounds were the same as the previous year, they were clustered into just four months so that the championship was theoretically decided by the end of July. But indeed it was not decided then! The third factor was the series of protests and appeals that would follow the final round, Rally of Queensland, that would eventually hand the title to Western Australians Rob Herridge and Steve Vanderbyl. See the Rally Queensland story for more details!
Herridge and Venderbyl won the title with two wins, a second and a third. Their closest rivals, and those with whom they sparred all the way to the Australian Motor Sports Appeals court, were Neal Bates and Mike Taylor, who almost won the title on consistency, no wins but three seconds and two thirds. Perhaps the unluckiest were third placed Murray Coote and Coral Taylor, who had three wins, but mechanical issues with the Mazda 323 resulted in three DNFs.
To see other years of the ARC, go to the series page.
