2014 Victorian Rally Championship

The 2014 Focus on Furniture Victorian Rally Championship was convincingly won by Justin Dowell and Scott Spedding in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. They scored seven wins and two seconds across the twelve heats (although two of Scott’s “wins” were compensatory points for the final round for which he was Clerk of Course, without which Bianca Lower would have been the co-driver champion). Other heat winners were Darren Windus / Jamie Sargeant (Subaru Legacy) with three wins and Warren Lee / David Lethlean (Lancer Evo 9) with two wins.

2WD Champions: Justin Walker / Bianca Lowe, Ford Escort Mk II

Clubman Award: Ashlea James / Brett Williams, Toyota Corolla

Novice Award: Rose North / Thuong Hoang, Ford Fiesta

To see what else happened during 2014 in Victorian rallying, go to the 2014 year page.

To see other years of the Victorian Rally Championship, got to the VRC page.

Series Regulations

These were specified in the VRC Standing Regulations, which were substantially the same as the previous year.

The VRC was made up exclusively of Special Stage events with competitive distances between 50 and 230 km.

Eligible vehicles were PRC, Group N, Group N(P), Historic Rally Cars and Classic Rally Cars. Club Rally Cars, FIA S1600 and S2000, ARC G2 and Group R5 were not eligible for VRC points, except CLB class points.

Awards were made for outright champions, 2WD, Clubman and Novice. There were also car class awards as follows: PRC up to 1400cc, PRC 1401-1600cc, PRC 1601-2000cc, PRC 2WD over 2000cc, PRC 4WD over 2000cc (split into two classes, essentially pre and post 1998, pre excluding any vehicles with fully active differentials) , Group N under 1400cc, Group N 1401-1600cc, Group N 1601-2000cc, Group N over 2000cc, Historic Rally Cars, Classic Rally Cars and Club Rally Cars,

All awards were allocated 30-25-21-18-16-14-12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for first to fifteenth.  With twelve heats, the worst two results were dropped. Series Registration was introduced back in 1994 and only registered competitors were eligible for points. However, bona fide Victorian competitors were automatically recognised as registered! All awards required competitors to compete in at least 50% of the events. Compensatory points could be awarded to a competitor who was the Clerk of Course of one of the rounds. This turned out to be important this year as Scott Spedding won the co-driver’s championship based on his notional wins on the final round for which he was Clerk of Course.

Events

There were 6 VRC events in 2014. The Bega Valley Rally was calendared as Round 5 but was cancelled. Each event had two heats, hence 12 rounds.

  1. George Derrick Memorial Rally (CCRMIT)
  2. Marysville Stages (FFCC)
  3. East Gippsland Stages (MUCC)
  4. Akademos Rally (MUCC)
  5. Rally Victoria (CerbCC, also ARC)
  6. Rally Bonnie Doon (NECC)

Pointscores

Class Awards

PRC under 1400cc: not awarded

PRC 1401-1600cc: Ashlea James / Brett Williams, Toyota Corolla

PRC 1601-2000cc: Justin Walker / Bianca Lowe, Ford Escort Mk II

PRC 2WD over 2000cc: Brian Semmens / Dan Parry, Nissan 200SX RV S12

PRC 4WD over 2000cc post 1998: Justin Dowell Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
Co-driver: Tracey Dewhurst (with Viv Dilkes-Frayne)

PRC 4WD over 2000cc pre 1998: Tod Reed / Will Murphy, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3

Group N classes: not awarded

HRC: Joel Wald / Jenny Cole, Datsun Stanza 

Club Rally Cars: Stuart Lawless / Tom Wright, Ford Escort

Classic Rally Cars: Grant Walker, Ford Escort RS1800
Co-driver: Scott Middleton (with Neil Schey)