MOTORSPORT: Coffs Harbour gets consolation rally

Australia lost its World Rally Championship round at Coffs Harbour last month but has gained a new event there next year.

It will be two weeks later than normal at the end of November and will be a combination of a winner-takes-all final of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, the final round of the APRC’s Pacific Cup and the finale in the Australian Rally Championship.

The new event, to be held on November 27-29, was announced after the meeting of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) meeting in Paris this week.

The round of the ARC is not confirmed yet, dependent on the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport – which will become Motorsport Australia in the new year – finding the budget and probably support from the state government’s tourism and major events arm, Destination NSW.

Coffs Harbour was home to Rally Australia for seven years with support from Destination NSW, but the WRC round has gone to New Zealand on next year’s calendar because organiser WRC Promoter – a Red Bull company – was unhappy about attendances.

What was to have been the final Rally Oz at Coffs in the middle of last month was cancelled after teams had arrived in the area because of bushfires in the region.

Five rounds have been confirmed for next year’s national rally championship – the National Capital Rally in Canberra on March 21-22, the Forest Rally at Busselton and Nannup in Western Australia on April 17-19, Rally Tasmania in and around Launceston on June 19-21, Eureka Rush at Ballarat in Victoria on August 22-23 and the Adelaide Hills Rally on October 2-4.

Coffs Harbour will make a sixth round in what will be called the Motorsport Australia Rally Championship as part of the CAMS rebranding.

CAMS chief executive Eugene Arocca says there will be a greater focus on improving exposure for the championship, which once was the second major motorsport series in the country after the Australian Touring Car Championship (now Supercars) but has dropped down the pecking order.

Meanwhile, the WMSC has confirmed the addition of hybrid cars to the WRC from 2022, with details to be finalised next year.

“Performance will come from an internal combustion engine, based on the current specifications but with controlled development costs and supported by a 100kW hybrid emotor,” it said.

“This unit will be the same for each of the teams, using common hardware and software strategies, making the cars capable of running in cities on electric power only and giving them an electric ‘power boost’ that could be deployed on special stages.”

Manufacturer teams – which will be down to three next year (Hyundai, Toyota and M-Sport Ford) following Citroen’s withdrawal – will be able to enter an extra, hybrid car from 2022 but it won’t be eligible, at least initially, for points in the manufacturers’ championship.

Citroen, which blamed its withdrawal on six-time world champion Sebastien Ogier’s defection to Toyota, says it is prepared to let privateer teams run its C3 model – as driven by Frenchman Ogier and Finn Esapekka Lappi this year – next season.

Pierre Budar, who was principal of Citroen’s factory team, says he is “quite convinced” the C3 could have been a title contender in 2020 against Hyundai’s i20, Toyota’s Yaris and the M-Sport Ford Fiesta.

Mark Webber was inducted into the FIA Hall of Fame this week – for his achievements in sports car racing rather than Formula 1.

Webber won a World Endurance Championship with Porsche in 2015, although victory in sports car’s major race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, eluded him.

He was among 29 sports car drivers admitted to the FIA Hall of Fame at the Automobile Club de Paris, after 33 F1 and 17 WRC champions were recognised the past two years.

Among the others inducted this year were New Zealander Brendon Hartley, a two-time WEC champion and 2017 Le Mans winner with Porsche, Denmark’s nine-time Le Mans victor Tom Kristensen and Belgian legend Jacky Ickx.

The new WEC premier class starting next September, replacing LMP1, will be called Le Mans Hypercar.
Unlimited testing will be allowed in the first season.

Peugeot’s return to sports car racing in 2022 will be in partnership with France’s Rebellion Racing, now running non-hybrid cars in LMP1.

LMP2 cars, powered by Gibson V8 normally-aspirated engines, will be slowed from next season to ensure they don’t outpace the first new hypercars from Toyota and Aston Martin.

America’s major race series, NASCAR, won’t have a single naming rights sponsor from next year.

Instead, Busch Beer, Coca-Cola, insurance company GEICO and telecommunciations company Comcast’s Xfinity brand will share title sponsorships throughout the 36-round stock car series.

The Winston, Nextel, Sprint and Monster Energy brands have been the name on NASCAR’s Cup over the years.

The championship-deciding race at Phoenix, Arizona, next season – after years at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida – won’t have a title sponsor.

The Formula 1 World Championship has never had a naming rights sponsor – probably because former ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone would have priced it out of the reach of any company.

South Australia has long been a special place for motorsport and now has a recast end-of-year festival.

The Shannons Adelaide Rally has been underway since Wednesday with more than 300 entries and will be in the Gouger Street restaurant precinct tonight (Friday) and the Hills tomorrow (Saturday), with a lunch stop at Birdwood, before the East End Finale Party tomorrow evening.

At Tailem Bend, 100km east of Adelaide, unique, classic and historic cars will compete in The Bend Classic both days of the weekend on three circuit configurations – including the new 3.93km, 22-turn East layout – at the Shahin’s family’s showpiece venue.

Entry is free for spectators and the culmination will be The Classic Shootout for the two fastest competitors in each category and perhaps wildcards.

The fifth running of Australia’s ‘showroom showdown enduro’ – the Bathurst Six-Hour – next Easter will have a hugely diverse support program.

Apart from the long-distance race for production road and high-performance cars, the new TCR touring car class will make its debut at Mt Panorama as the second round of the 2020 carsales TCR Australia series.

The April 10-12 event also will host historic touring cars, the first round of the Australian GT Championship (with the field including cars in the second round of the Australian GT4 Championship as well as GT3s), the open-top sports car Radical Australia Cup and the Hyundai Excel Challenge.

That’s a helluva banquet of racing for just $40 for a three-day general admission ticket – and, even better, a buy-one, get-one-free deal in place until Christmas Eve – available at Bathurst6hour.com.au.

McLaren Automotive has named Australian Harry Hayek in its driver development programme to race one of its 570Ss in British GT events next year.

Hayek, 21, from Sydney, is one of four youngsters chosen for the programme in GT4 run through McLaren’s customer racing team Holman Motorsport.

The other three drivers selected with Hayek from a shortlist of 18 are 20-year-old Englishwoman Katie Milner, American Michael Benyahia and Switzerland’s Alain Valente.

Hayek has been a race winner in the now-defunct Australian Formula 4 and drove in the British F3 Championship in 2017 but a severe accident and subsequent health issues had stalled his career until his return this year.