Top rally comp to take over Nannup

The Australian Rally Championship hits Nannup this weekend, with its biggest field since the 1990’s.

66 crews will line up on Friday night as the second rounds of both the ARC, and the WA Rally Championship kick off in Bunbury.

34 of those entries will be competing in the top class, with championship leaders Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin looking to replicate their strong performance in round one in Tasmania, where the pair won 4 stages in their Toyota Yaris GR AP4.

Hot on their heels will be Luke Anear and Malcolm Read, who return to their AGI Rallysport Ford Fiesta Mk2, and Winpart Group’s Nathan Quinn and Raymond Winwood-Smith in their Hyundai i20. The two teams are currently separated in the drivers’ championships by a single point.

The WA crews will be right in the mix too, with WARC leaders Daniel Gonzalez and Daymon Nicoli set to pit their Realty Lane Skoda Fabia R5 against the ARC’s best. Round one runners up Peter Rullo and James Marquet will be looking to get one back on the Skoda crew after going down by more than a minute at the Winvale Stages.

The rally weekend will begin with the ceremonial start on the Bunbury foreshore. The first car is expected to take off at 6pm for a night time super special stage at the Bunbury Speedway. The forest action in Nannup kicks off on Saturday, with the first car hitting the Folly North 1 stage at 8:52am.

All information for spectators including maps, entry lists, and start times for each of the 12 stages can be found at forestrally.com.au.