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World rally returns down-under

The tenth round in the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship moves this elite competition to its second southern hemisphere location of the season with Repco Rally Australia taking place from 2 to 6 September.

The Australian event returns to the WRC calendar for the first time since it was last run in 2006 in Western Australia. The new location is the small resort of Kingscliff in the far north-east of New South Wales, close to the Queensland border. The brand-new roads remove any favourite status between current series leader Mikko Hirvonen (Ford) and defending champion Sebastién Loeb (Citroen).

Having won the 2006 event on the western coast, Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen acknowledge the new roads will equally test their ability to set a benchmark.

“This is a brand-new rally so I don’t know what to expect,” said the 29-year-old Hirvonen who currently leads the series by three points from Loeb with just three rounds of the 2009 season remaining.

“The roads in the west where I won in 2006 are different to those we will experience here. The tracks were covered in slippery marble-like stones but I understand these roads are more traditional gravel, which should suit me.

“It's a crucial rally for the championship. I will try to win but if I can't, then I must score as many points as possible. Zero points and the title fight could be over for me this year. I have a good record on new rallies, although I don’t feel I do anything differently in either the recce or the rally itself. But I’ll be happy if I can maintain that record.”

With an entry list of 42 cars for the event, the Hirvonen/Loeb battle could well be upstaged by their manufacturer team-mates Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) and Dani Sordo (Citroen). Both drivers have scored successive podium results during the 2009 season.

Repco Rally Australia is also a round of the Production World Rally Championship (P-WRC) and the penultimate point-scoring opportunity for many P-WRC teams, including the Ralliart New Zealand entry Eyvid Brynildsen and the Tapper Rallysport team of Mark Tapper and co-driver Jeff Judd.

Other Kiwis entered to the P-WRC category include former New Zealand rally champion Richard and Sara Mason, driving for the Barwa Rally Team, and Stewart Taylor and co-driver Warwick Searle driving for Uspenskiy Rally Tecnica.

The event also features the Asia Pacific regional final of the Pirelli Star Driver competition. Current New Zealand rally champions Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard (Team Green) are one of five teams vying for the chance to contest selected WRC rounds in 2010 – a prize worth around one million New Zealand dollars.

Repco Rally Australia is based in Kingscliff, on the Tweed Coast, which also hosts the service park. Rally stages run through the Tweed and Kyogle shires to the south-west. Two passes of an asphalt super special stage around the streets of Murwillumbah begin the action on Thursday and will also end the competition on Friday and Saturday. The opening leg is the shortest, with much of the action based close to Murwillumbah, before Saturday's route takes competitors further west for stages clustered around Kyogle. The final leg is the longest, journeying west of Kyogle with a remote service based in the town's main street. A live TV stage ends the action before the finish back in Kingscliff. Drivers tackle 35 stages covering 344.72km of competition in a route of 1733.75km. The average special stage length is the shortest in the series, reflecting the rally's proximity to populated areas where gravel roads are less frequent. 

The championship's Pirelli’s 205/65R15 control tyre is only available in hard compound for the Australian event. Priority drivers (P1 and P2) have a maximum of 42 tyres available for the rally, including six for shakedown. Competitors may carry two spares. The re-cutting of tread patterns is not permitted.