The Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally, organised by the Vroom Events (with the assistance of CCRMIT), was held on 10-11 August.
Australian Rally Championship Round 4
Victorian Rally Championship Round 3
The Gippsland Rally is pace-noted with recce for the Saturday stages on Friday. Sunday stages were recce’d on Thursday. The event was counted as an ARC “endurance” event so that there were no separate points for each day, only for the overall positions. The VRC Round was conducted as two heats only on Day 1 (Saturday).
The ARC event saw a return of dominance by Harry Bates and Coral Taylor in a Toyota GR Yaris AP4, after their disastrous run in the previous ARC round in Queensland. On the other hand, previous round winner, Scott Pedder struggled on the second day and ultimately almost tore a rear wheel from the Skoda on the final Power Stage, limping to the finish to finish 8th. Harry’s brother and team-mate Lewis (with Anthony McLoughlin) finished second ahead of Tasmanians, Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey in a Skoda.
The VRC round also saw a return of good fortune for Adrian Stratford and Anthony Staltari in their Fiesta G4 after the DNF in the previous round. But a problem on SS2 saw them place 4th on Heat 1 (3rd VRC registered) but they won Heat 2 and the overall VRC round. Warren Lee and David Lethlean (Subaru) won the first heat but dropped to fourth on the second heat. Danny Traverso and Anthony Carr (Lancer Evo 9) bounced back from a problem on SS1 to place second on Heat 2.
James and Mark Leoncini (Corolla) placed second on Heat 1 and first 2WD but failed the finish the second heat,. Jesse Robison and Troy Hutchins (Datsun Sunny) were best of the 2WD on Heat 2. The Clubman winners were Mitch Garrard and Taylah Murphy (Subaru), winning both heats, while the Novice winner was again Lucas Reed (with Isaac Draper in an Excel).
