Rally Australia was again the final WRC round being held on November 15-18 in the Coffs Harbour region of NSW. Clerk of Course was Wayne Kenny.

World Rally Championship Round 13

Australian Rally Championship Round 6

Little did anyone realise that a confluence of circumstances would lead to the 2019 Rally Australia being cancelled and as a consequence, this would be the last edition of Rally Australia, at least for the time being.

Sébastien Ogier again came to Australia leading the championship, but he could still be overtaken by Thierry Neuville who trailed by just 4 points. Evan Tänak, 23 points behind Ogier, could mathematically still take the title. So it was all to play for!

The ARC was also to be decided with Eli Evans holding a handy lead on 338 well ahead of Harry Bate son 281, Steve Glenney on 273 and Molly Taylor on 260, but with 100 points on offer anything could happen.

The entry list was down this year with 25 cars in the WRC event and another 21 in the “ARC only”, R6 Cup and Classic Cup. For works teams brought twelve Rally 1 cars to Australia. M-Sport Ford had Ogier, Evans and Suninen, Toyota Gazoo Latvala, Tänak and Lappi, Hyundai had Neuville, Mikkelsen and Paddon, while Citroën brought Breen and Østberg. Greek stalwart Serderidas also had a Fiesta.

As usual, road position played a role with both Ogier and Neuville languishing down the placings. Tänak punctured on SS3 while Neuville punctured on the same stage on the second pass. The later runners were doing well and at the end of the day Østberg lead from Breen,  then Latvala, Paddon, Tänak and Lappi. Ogier was seventh, Neuville tenth, his championship hopes hanging by a thread.

On the morning loop of Day 2 Latvala and Tänak overtook Østberg while Breen spun and broke the suspension, but limped back to service without having to “super rally”. Tänak pushed in the afternoon and finished the day 22 seconds ahead of Latvala with Paddon up into third. Ogier was sixth, Neuville eighth, his championship hopes all but gone.

Like the previous year, Day 3 dawned wet and slippery. Neuville had no choice but to go for broke, and broke it was. On the second pass in Bucca he spun, hit a tree and ripped a wheel from the Hyundai. Ogier now had the title regardless of his result. Tänak struggled on the first loop, overshot, reversed and got stuck in reverse gear, losing the lead to Latvala. On the second pass of the penultimate stage Tänak slid off and was unable to continue, having broken the gearbox. With memories of the previous year, Latvala settled for fifth on the Power Stage, but took the overall win. Ogier won the Power Stage, finishing in fifth overall and was crowned champion for a sixth time. Paddon got his best WRC result for the year, second outright ahead of Østberg.

The ARC round was no less exciting. Harry Bates won the first day, but then retired with engine issues. Eli Evans damaged his Škoda on the first day, and took no points, was excluded but then appealed and rejoined on Day 2. Milly Taylor had a big accident on Day 1 and her event was finished. Tasmanian Steve Glenney went on to win Days 2 and 3 in his new Škoda, and took the overall event win, and an excellent ninth outright in the WRC round. But Evans finished second on both days and secured enough points to win the title.