The year promised to be a traditional showdown between Lancers and Subarus, with Toyota rolling out its existing S2000 Corolla, and Eli Evans initially campaigning the AP4 Peugeot 208 Maxi. Later in the year Toyota unveiled its AP4 Yaris and Evans an AP4 Mini Cooper.
The year started on a positive note with a new Victorian event, the Eureka Rally. Harry Bates impressed in the Corolla with a first and third, but brother Lewis on debut saw his 2WD Corolla literally go up in flames. Nathan Quinn signalled his intentions placing second on both heats, while Evans won the second heat. Reigning champion Molly Taylor struggled with the new STi Subaru only managing sixth and fourth. Taylor turned around her fortunes with a clean sweep in the West, Quinn and Bates each taking a second.
The remainder of the season was a story of reliability with all three championship contenders suffering heart-breaking vehicle issues. Quinn was first to suffer mechanical gremlins in Canberra resulting in a non-finish while Bates and Taylor took first and second. Quinn Struck back in South Australia with two heat wins, Taylor second, but the newly unveiled AP4 Yaris had engine issues and effectively failed to start the event. Their championship hopes largely gone, they did not enter the final round.
Going into Rally Australia with 100 points on offer, Taylor held a 30 point advantage over Quinn. But her Subaru developed overheating issues on Day 2 and they struggled to get the end of the heat, and failed to start the third day. Quinn just needed to get to the finish, in deteriorating wet conditions on the final day, but ultimately took three heat wins and the championship, as well as ninth outright in the WRC round. Tasmanian, Craig Brooks finished second ARC on the event to place third overall in the championship. Taylor’s co-driver was 2017 Australian Champion because Quinn had been partnered with two different co-drivers during the season.
Adam Kaplan and Aleshia Kenney again won the thinly contested 2WD championship while Trevor Stirling won the 2WD Classic Challenge in a Stanza. The newly instituted ARC2 award was won by John O’Dowd in a Subaru.
To see other years of the ARC, go to the series page
