2017 Kennards Hire Rally Australia

Table of Contents

Results and entry list
- WRC Results
- ARC Results
Route
Other event documents

Rally Australia was again the final WRC round being held on November 17-19 in the Coffs Harbour region of NSW. Clerk of Course was Wayne Kenny.

World Rally Championship Round 13

Australian Rally Championship Round 5

NSW Rally Championship Round ?

Queensland Rally Championship Round 5

With the withdrawal of Volkswagen the previous year, Sébastien Ogier had become the lead driver for M-Sport Ford and had secured his fifth World Rally Championship at the previous round in Wales. This was despite having only two wins at Monte Carlo and in Portugal, whereas Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20) had secured three round wins but a significant number of low or no points scoring rounds. But the runner-up place was still up for grabs with Neuville 14 points ahead of Tanak in the second M-Sport Fiesta.

M-Sport Ford came to Australia with three Fiestas, for Ogier, Tanak and Evans. Hyundai had Neuville, Paddon and part-timer Mikkelsen, the previous year’s winner. Citroën were back with Meeke, Breen and Lefebvre, plus the privately entered Serderisdis. And the new well resourced Toyota Gazoo Racing Team brought Latvala and Lappi. Rally 2 saw the arrival of young gun, Kalle Rovanperä in an R5 Fiesta.

The ARC was far from over, with reigning champions Molly Taylor holding a 30 point lead over Coffs Harbour local Nathan Quinn. But with 100 points up for grabs, anything could happen. Western Australian John O’Dowd, Tasmanian Craig Brooks and Toyota’s Harry Bates were also in with a chance if the top two faltered.

Road position no doubt helped Mikkelsen to open up an early lead from the two Citroëns of Meeke and Breen, with Neuville in fourth. This was despite Meeke having an off and just missing the trees, Ogier’s car developed a gear shift issue and he struggled, finishing the day down in eighth. Mikkelsen held a 20 point lead over Neuville and Meeke who were seperated by less than a second, then Latvala, Breen, Tanak and Paddon.

Mikkelsen lead on the first pass through Nambucca but in Newry he picked up two punctures and was forced to retire as he only had one spare. Neuville took over the lead an Latvala passed Meeke who had an overshoot. Neuville extended his lead and with the second loop and with Newry cancelled, he finished the day 20 seconds ahead of Latvala. Meeke broke the rear suspension after hitting a bridge and retired for the day allowing Tanak up into third behind Latvala, then Breen, Paddon and Ogier.

On the final days the heavens opened and conditions were very difficult. First Lefrabvre spun and broke his Citroën’s suspension, then Breen came to grief on the Bucca stage, rolling the Citroën badly. Neuville was struggling but kept Latvala at bay. Disaster struck for Latvala on the Power Stage when he ran wide and hit a stump. Ogier took the Power Stage but Neuville took the event and the runner-up spot in the championship. Tanak was second and Paddon up into third.

In the ARC Nathan Quinn was dominant, winning every day and the overall event. Bates failed the start the event after the event after the new AP4 Yaris would not start. Molly Taylor had finished second on Day 1 but her Subaru developed overheating problems on Day 2 and only finishing the day tenth, then failed to start Day 3. It was Quinn’s championship!

The NSWRC round was won by Tom Clarke and Ryan Preston in a Lancer while the QRC round went to Tony Quinn and Kate Raymond-Catford in an S2000 VW Polo. Classics was won by Michael O’Hagan and Eoin Moynihan in an Escort.

Results and entry list

WRC Entry list

ARC Entry List

WRC Results

NOTE: While many ARC crews entered the WRC event, the ARC results did not include the second run on the Coffs Harbour super-special stage.

Place	Driver	Ctr/St	Co-Driver	Ctry/St	Car	Time
1	Thierry Neuville	Bel	Nicolas Gilsoul	Bel	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	2:35:44.8
2	Ott Tänak	Est	Martin Järveoja	Est	Ford Fiesta WRC	2:36:07.3
3	Hayden Paddon	NZ	Sebastian Marshall	UK	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	2:36:43.9
4	Sébastien Ogier	Fra	Julien Ingrassia	Fra	Ford Fiesta WRC	2:38:12.5
5	Elfyn Evans	UK	Daniel Barritt	UK	Ford Fiesta WRC	2:38:50.4
6	Esapekka Lappi	Fin	Janne Ferm	Fin	Toyota Yaris WRC	2:39:34.3
7	Kris Meeke	UK	Paul Nagle	Ire	Citroën C3 WRC	2:58:43.2
8	Richie Dalton	NSW	John Allen	NSW	Škoda Fabia R5	3:00:24.4
9	Nathan Quinn	NSW	Ben Searcy	WA	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3:00:48.2
10	Dean Herridge	WA	Sam Hill	WA?	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	3:05:37.1
11	Jourdan Serderidis	Gre	Frédéric Miclotte	Bel	Citroën DS3 WRC	3:08:10.2
12	Kalle Rovanperä	Fin	Jonne Halttunen	Fin	Ford Fiesta R5	3:09:01.1
13	Andreas Mikkelsen	Nor	Anders Jæger	Nor	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	3:13:24.5
14	Tom Clarke	NSW	Ryan Preston	Qld	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	3:14:05.2
15	Fabio Frisiero	Ita	Simone Scattolin	Ita	Peugeot 208 AP4	3:15:01.4
16	John O’Dowd	WA	Kenneth Sheil	WA	Subaru Impreza STi N12B	3:20:31.6
17	Mike Young	NZ	Malcolm Read	NZ	Citroën DS3 R3T	3:21:59.6
18	Peter Dunn	NSW	Dennis Neagle	Qld	Subaru Impreza STi N11 Spec C	3:27:00.2
19	Craig Brooks	Tas	Steve Glenney	Tas	Subaru WRX STI	3:29:45.5
20	Lewis Bates	ACT	Dale Moscatt	NSW	Toyota Corolla TRD S2000	3:42:18.7
21	Rhys Pinter	ACT	Phil Hall	UK	Ford Fiesta R2	3:43:39.6
22	Wayne Morton	Qld	Megan Benson	Qld	Toyota Auris S2000	3:45:42.9
23	Mark Beard	NSW	Scott Beckwith	WA	Subaru Impreza RS	3:47:44.4
24	Eli Evans	Vic	Glen Weston	Qld	Mini Cooper AP4	3:48:48.5
25	Andrew Penny	NSW	Kirra Morton-Penny	NSW	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	4:12:30.3

WRC Stage results

ARC and other Results

ARC Day Results and other categories

ARC: Day 1. Day 2, Day 3

ARC Classics Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Overall

NSWRC and QRC Results (Day 2 only)

All Stage Times

Route

This year’s route was substantially revised on the first and last days. The Friday had two loops of three stages – a short starter using the Settles Road stage with a new start along behind the Blueberry Farm which was a nice spectator point, a longer stage in Bucca and a 27 km stage through Wedding Bells starting near Glenreagh. The day finished with the Coffs Harbour super special, much the same as the previous year. Saturday comprised the slightly shortened Nambucca stage and 21 km through Newry, plus a run around the Raleigh Raceway. On the second loop Nambucca was split in two and the Newry stage was cancelled due to a damaged bridge. The day again ended with the Coffs Harbour super special. Sunday ran SS1 in reverse then a 32 km stage in Bucca before the first run of the short Wedding Bells stage which was then run a second time as the Power Stage after SS20 was cancelled due to deteriorating road conditions.

Itinerary and stage plots

Official Itinerary and Overview Map

The ARC and NSWRC crews did not have to complete the second pass of the Coffs Harbour super special stage (SS8 and SS16).