2020 RSEA Safety Australian Rally Championship

The 2020 RSEA Safety Australian Rally Championship, like most rallying, was deeply impacted by the COVID pandemic and resulting lockdowns. In the end, only the Netier National Capital Rally ran late in the year. It was won by Harry Bates and John McCarthy. No series awards were made.

To see other years of the ARC, go to the series page.

Harry Bates and John McCarthy on the 2020 Netier National Capital Rally, photo: Sportz Fotos

Series Regulations

The series was regulated by the ARC Sporting and Technical Regs. We don’t have a copy but we think they may have been similar to 2019.

Additional awards were as follows, and used the same points system as for outright but with the best four results to count:

  • ARC2: Privateers
  • ARC3: 2WD
  • ARC4: No AP4 or R5
  • J-ARC: Junior
  • M-ARC: Masters

Events

There were six rounds originally calendared, as follows:

  1. National Capital Rally (ACT, Compact then Endurance, also NSWRC)
  2. Forest Rally (WA, Sprint) CANCELLED
  3. Rally Tasmania (Tas, Sprint?) CANCELLED
  4. Eureka Rush (Vic, Compact?)  CANCELLED
  5. Adelaide Hills Rally (SA, Endurance?)  CANCELLED
  6. NSW TBC
The arrival of COVID into Australia in early 2020 lead to many lockdowns and the curtailment of most competition. By May the National Capital Rally had been postponed to September, the Forest Rally and Eureka Rush were cancelled,  Adelaide Hills postponed to October, Tasmania to November and a NSW finale optimistically calendared for late November making a four round series. In the end, only the National Capital Rally ran at the end of November.