MOTORSPORT: Rally Oz dust won't settle

A month after Rally Australia controversy is raging within World Rally Championship circles over the night stage at the Coffs Harbour event.

Rally Oz organisers want to repeat the 7.94km gravel Valla stage at night next year, but drivers are muttering about a boycott because of what they claim are the dangers from dust in the dark.

World champion Sebastien Ogier, who clinched his third title in Volkswagen's Polo R at Coffs Harbour, called a meeting of drivers, co-drivers and the world head of motorsport, Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) president Jean Todt at the recent French round of the WRC on the island of Corsica.

Todt strongly favours night competition – "that's rallying", he says – as does the FIA's WRC manager, Michele Mouton.

However, Citroen factory driver Kris Meeke has called September 12's Valla night stage – on which he lost the Rally Oz lead to Ogier – "stupid".

"If somebody could give me one reason what that stage added to Rally Australia I'd be very interested to hear it," Ulsterman Meeke said.

"They knew there would be dust and they sent us in [to the stage] anyway."
VW team boss Jost Capito said "the night stage doesn't add anything but risk".

"The spectators don't see anything, the TV is nothing, we don't get the press release out [at a good time for exposure]," Capito said.

"This is nothing against night stages. It's the dust in the darkness – that is irresponsible."

Todt has promised a full investigation into the issue.

"Night driving ... I am in favour. That's rallying," Todt has said.

"If it is true after five minutes [that the Valla stage] was blocked with dust, this is not acceptable. In this case it's unfair competition ... you have one guy at the front [in clear air] and then those behind with the road blocked.

"But if it's not like this then I will encourage more organisers to run the night stages."

Mouton, runner-up in the 1982 WRC, dismissed the driver concerns at the end of Rally Oz about danger on the Valla stage.

"This is not a safety issue at all. This is about the performance issue," Mouton said.

"These drivers, they don't like uncertainty – and the dark brings uncertainty.

"They are not used to competing in the dark, but it is part of the challenge."

Meeke, who led much of this year's Rally Oz and finished third behind Ogier and VW's second driver Jari-Matti Latvala, admitted that, while he was angry about the dust in the dark on Valla, drivers would have to talk to the manufacturers and teams that employed them about the situation.

"I'm not about to start saying who will and who won't start a stage or what might happen," Meeke told Auto Action magazine's WRC correspondent Jerry Williams. "We'll be sensible and work this out."

A compromise might be to run a night stage on tarmac.

Rally Oz organisers, headed by chairman Dean Rainsford, have claimed last month's event was the most successful since the rally moved to Coffs Harbour in 2011 and drivers generally were highly complementary about the course.

"There was a buzz around this Rally Australia like never before," Rainsford said. "As always, there will be things we aim to improve next year and we'll consider these."

"Rally Australia's night stage was a tremendous spectacle that was loved by every spectator we spoke to and provided a real special touch for the event – something that many spectators had never experienced before," Whitten wrote in what he called his post-event "ramblings".

"Of course, many of the drivers whinged about the dust and that they were disadvantaged ... the same drivers who may well complain about the pea-soup fog that could descend on [the season-ending] Wales Rally GB in November.

"They need to get over it.

"The sport is about the atmosphere, the theatre and the fans, not just about prima donna drivers who think every road should be swept clean before they arrive and that conditions should be perfect from start to finish.

"Even former world champion co-driver Robert Reid [now an FIA steward] loved the night stage, and was quite rightly disappointed by comments from Sebastien Ogier and Kris Meeke at the end of it.

"The stage didn't decide the rally and let's hope it returns again next year.

"The organisers should stand their ground and push to retain the event's point of difference.

"[But] a tarmac night stage on gravel tyres could work just as well, eliminating the dust element and giving the fans another look at bright lights and glowing brake discs as the cars rocket down the road past their vantage points."

Fourteen events have been announced, including one in China for the first time since 1999, but without dates decided.

However, the Monte Carlo and Corsica events could drop off the calendar if the event organisers do not sign agreements with the WRC promoter surrendering TV rights.

Citroen is weighing whether to pull out of the WRC or the World Touring Car Championship after next year and its WRC team principal Yves Matton said a 14-rally season "could have a very negative effect on whether we will be back in 2017".

M-Sport principal Malcolm Wilson said China presented "a real opportunity" for the sport but that another rally needed to be dropped if it was included.

Australian organisers want to host the final round next year on November 17-20, to be followed by an after-party in Sydney, but Ogier strongly favours the finale remaining in Wales.

Ogier's VW boss Jost Capito supports his stance, while M-Sport's Wilson has said: "I can tell you now, we won't be there [at any Sydney celebration]."

Kiwi winner in Hyundai driver shake-up
Hyundai's factory WRC team has dropped its Belgian No.1 driver Thierry Neuville to its second team for this season's final round in Wales on November 12-15, promoting New Zealander Hayden Paddon in his place.

The Korean company is one point behind Citroen in the contest for second place in the manufacturers' championship and Paddon has finished ahead of Neuville in six of the past eight events.

Hyundai claims the driver switch is intended to help restore Neuville's confidence for next season. He has the best record of the Hyundai drivers in Wales, with fourth and third places in the past two years, while Paddon has only competed there once in a WRC car, finishing 10th in an i20 last year.

There is one event before Wales – at Catalunya in Spain on October 22-25 on a mix of gravel and asphalt stages.

Open slather in next year's ARC
Outright honours in the Australian Rally Championship will be open to competitors in both four-wheel-drive and two-wheel drive next year, but there will be a new stand-alone 2WD title.

"While the ARC has been fought out by 2WDs in recent years, when we reviewed the championship at the end of last year and made the announcement that we would be levelling the playing field we wanted to ensure that competitors across the board could choose the category of car they wanted to run and still be in contention to be outright champion," Australian Rally Commission (ARCom) chairman Ben Rainsford said.

"From 2016 if you are running a 4WD, including our existing PRC classes, as well as the new 'Maxi' or 'Proto' cars, or you're in a modern 2WD, you will be eligible for an outright event result and championship points.

"We want to create the most open rally championship where drivers of all backgrounds, in an incredible variety of cars, can start each event with an equal chance of lifting the winner's trophy by the end.

"By opening the championship points up to 4WD and 2WD competitors alike we believe we are offering the most exciting opportunity for drivers to compete."

Rainsford has foreshadowed a return to a six-round ARC next year with a Victorian round at Ballarat. The final round this season is Rally South Australia on October 23-25.

Adelaide's classics, Sydney goes to extremes
Adelaide and Sydney are the capitals of Australian four-wheel motorsport activity this weekend, while the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix is at Victoria's Phillip Island.

Along with the Classic Adelaide Rally, run on tarmac in the Adelaide Hills and on the Fleurieu Peninsula but based out of Victoria Park, which houses the city's famous street circuit, there is a new classic motorsport festival in those parklands.

It will feature Formula 1 cars formerly driven by the late Ayrton Senna and Alan Jones as well as touring and sports cars and motorcycles.

Meanwhile, the World Time Attack Challenge is on at Sydney Motorsport Park today (Friday) and tomorrow.

It features sedans with extreme horsepower and aerodynamics in four classes – clubsprint, open, pro-am and pro, with the fastest of them lapping the grand prix circuit in less than one minute 25 seconds.

Among the machinery is a Toyota Celica in which New Zealander Rod Millen won America's famous Pikes Peak hillclimb, while one of the competitors is Brisbane's Rob Nguyen – who briefly raced in the international Formula 3000 championship more than a decade ago – in a Honda dubbed "Mighty Mouse".

Seven goes full distance on 12-Hour
The Seven Network has committed to screening the entire Bathurst 12-Hour next February 7.

Promotion of the event has been taken over by V8 Supercars – its own annual championship in Australia and New Zealand now telecast by Fox Sports and Ten, although only six rounds are live on free-to-air.

Seven, which showed the 12-Hour this year for the first time, has not yet said how much of next year's race will be on its primary channel – it may be only the final hour or two, while the entire race is likely to be on its digital channel 7Mate.

New Zealand gets it all together
New Zealand's newly-consolidated touring car series – combining the V8 SuperTourers and the NZ Touring Cars – begins this weekend at the Taupo circuit.

Among the 21 entries are Australia's reigning NZV8 champion Jason Bargwanna in a Toyota Camry, while Darwin teenager Bryce Fullwood is in a Holden V8 SuperTourer – as is Aussie-based Kiwi Craig Baird.

Charting new course at Charters Towers
A growing North Queensland venue will now be home to six forms of motorsport.

It is the Millchester Motorsports Complex at Charters Towers, 135km west of Townsville.

The North Queensland Offroad Racing Association and the Townsville City Autosports Club are the latest additions at the venue, which is leased to North Queensland Motorsport.

Also there are Charters Towers Drag Racing, Speedway Racing NQ, the Charters Towers 4X4 Club and the Charters Towers Remote Control Car Club.

Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has supported the venue, leased by an entity called North Queensland Motorsport, on condition it keeps noise levels within limits.

There are hopes of it staging a round of the Australian Offroad Racing Championship in time.