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2019 Rally Australia

The 2019 Rally Australia (also known as Kennards Hire Rally Australia 2019) was a motor racing event for rally cars that was scheduled to be held over four days between 14 and 17 November 2019.[2] The event was cancelled because of an ongoing bushfire emergency in the area.[3] The event was to mark the twenty-eighth running of Rally Australia and was the final round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, WRC-2 Pro class and World Rally Championship-2. The 2019 event would have been based in Coffs Harbour in New South Wales, and contested over twenty-five special stages with a total a competitive distance of 324.53 km (201.65 mi). Rally Australia will not be featured in the 2020 championship.[4]

2019 Rally Australia
28. Kennards Hire Rally Australia
Round 14 of 14 in the 2019 World Rally Championship
← Previous event
Rally Australia marks the end of the 2019 season.
Host country Australia
Rally baseCoffs Harbour, New South Wales
Dates run14 – 17 November 2019
Start locationCoffs Harbour, New South Wales
Finish locationCoramba, New South Wales
Stages25 (324.53 km; 201.65 miles)[1]
Stage surfaceGravel
Transport distance759.47 km (471.91 miles)
Overall distance1,084.00 km (673.57 miles)
Statistics
Crews registered26
CancellationRally cancelled due to bushfires.

Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila were the defending rally winners. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners.[5] Alberto Heller and José Diaz were the defending rally winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but did not participate in the event.[6]

As a result of the rally's cancellation, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT became the manufacturers' champions, while Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais won the divers' and co-drivers' titles respectively in the WRC-2 class.[7][8]

Background

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Championship standings prior to the event

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Newly crowned champions Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja led the both drivers' and co-drivers' championships with a thirty-six-point ahead of Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul. Defending world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia were third, a further ten points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held an eighteen-point lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.[9]

In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings, newly crowned champions Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen led by sixty-one points in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively. Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen were second, with Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson further eight points behind in third. In the manufacturers' championship, manufacturers' champion Škoda Motorsport led M-Sport Ford WRT by seventy-four points, with Citroën Total over a hundred points behind in third.[10]

In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by three points respectively. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak were second, while Benito Guerra were third in the drivers' standings and Yaroslav Fedorov in the co-drivers' standings.[10]

Entry list

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The following crews were due to entered into the rally. The event was scheduled to open to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of twenty-six entries were received, with twelve crews were scheduled to enter with World Rally Cars and three were scheduled to enter the World Rally Championship-2. This was later reduced to eleven World Rally Cars when Citroën withdrew a planned entry for Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen.[11]

No. Driver Co-driver Entrant Car Tyre
World Rally Car entries
1   Sébastien Ogier   Julien Ingrassia   Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC M
3   Teemu Suninen   Jarmo Lehtinen   M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC M
4   Esapekka Lappi   Janne Ferm   Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC M
5   Kris Meeke   Sebastian Marshall   Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC M
6   Dani Sordo   Carlos del Barrio   Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC M
8   Ott Tänak   Martin Järveoja   Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC M
10   Jari-Matti Latvala   Miikka Anttila   Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC M
11   Thierry Neuville   Nicolas Gilsoul   Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC M
18   Craig Breen   Paul Nagle   Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC M
20   Hayden Paddon   John Kennard   M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC M
33   Elfyn Evans   Scott Martin   M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC M
World Rally Championship-2 entries
41   Pierre-Louis Loubet   Vincent Landais   Pierre-Louis Loubet[a] Škoda Fabia R5 M
42   Benito Guerra   Daniel Cué   Benito Guerra[b] Škoda Fabia R5 M
45   Gaurav Gill   Glenn Macneall   Gaurav Gill Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II M
Source:[12]

Route

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Only five stages from the 2018 event were scheduled to return to the 2019 itinerary. Two of these were due to run in opposite direction to the 2018 rally.[1]

Planned itinerary

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All dates and times are AEDT (UTC+11).

Date Time No. Stage name Distance
14 November 8:00 — Eastbank [Shakedown] 5.09 km
Leg 1 — 125.88 km
14 November 16:30 SS1 Destination NSW SSS19 1 1.33 km
16:40 SS2 Destination NSW SSS19 2 1.33 km
15 November 9:00 SS3 Coldwater19 1 16.78 km
9:48 SS4 Sherwood 1 26.68 km
10:51 SS5 Kookaburra Rd 1 16.82 km
13:36 SS6 Coldwater19 2 16.78 km
14:24 SS7 Sherwood 2 26.68 km
15:27 SS8 Kookaburra Rd 2 16.82 km
17:00 SS9 Destination NSW SSS19 3 1.33 km
17:10 SS10 Destination NSW SSS19 4 1.33 km
Leg 2 — 116.99 km
16 November 8:33 SS11 Northbank Reverse 1 8.00 km
9:12 SS12 Utungun Reverse 1 7.54 km
10:08 SS13 Argents Hill Reverse 1 13.13 km
10:51 SS14 Welshs Creek Reverse 1 28.83 km
12:14 SS15 Raleigh 1.99 km
15:08 SS16 Argents Hill Reverse 2 13.13 km
16:00 SS17 Welshs Creek Reverse 2 28.83 km
17:13 SS18 Northbank Reverse 2 8.00 km
17:52 SS19 Utungun Reverse 2 7.54 km
Leg 3 — 81.66 km
17 November 7:03 SS20 Mount Coramba 1 19.05 km
7:47 SS21 Lower Bucca 1 11.47 km
8:38 SS22 Wedding Bells19 1 10.31 km
11:06 SS23 Mount Coramba 2 19.05 km
11:50 SS24 Lower Bucca 2 11.47 km
13:08 SS25 Wedding Bells19 2 [Power Stage] 10.31 km
Source:[1]

Bushfire emergency

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Bushfires in New South Wales led to the cancellation of the rally.

In the week before the rally, the New South Wales Mid North Coast region was devastated by unprecedented bushfires. Organisers of the rally announced plans to run the event over a shortened route if conditions deteriorated further, while organisers of the Australian Rally Championship — of which Rally Australia was planned to be the final round — cancelled the series' involvement in the rally.[13] A revised itinerary featuring 90 km (55.9 mi) of competitive stages was submitted to the FIA for approval.[14] However, the rally was cancelled eventually.[15]

Report

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World Rally Cars

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Championship standings

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  • Bold text indicates 2019 World Champions.
Pos. Drivers' championships Co-drivers' championships Manufacturers' championships
Move Driver Points Move Co-driver Points Move Manufacturer Points
1   Ott Tänak 263   Martin Järveoja 263   Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 380
2   Thierry Neuville 227   Nicolas Gilsoul 227   Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 362
3   Sébastien Ogier 217   Julien Ingrassia 217   Citroën Total WRT 284
4   Andreas Mikkelsen 102   Anders Jæger-Amland 102   M-Sport Ford WRT 218
5   Elfyn Evans 102   Scott Martin 102

World Rally Championship-2 Pro

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Championship standings

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  • Bold text indicates 2019 World Champions.
Pos. Drivers' championships Co-drivers' championships Manufacturers' championships
Move Driver Points Move Co-driver Points Move Manufacturer Points
1   Kalle Rovanperä 206   Jonne Halttunen 206   Škoda Motorsport 333
2   Mads Østberg 145   Torstein Eriksen 145   M-Sport Ford WRT 259
3   Gus Greensmith 137   Elliott Edmondson 137   Citroën Total 145
4   Jan Kopecký 115   Pavel Dresler 79
5   Łukasz Pieniążek 74   Kamil Heller 62

World Rally Championship-2

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Championship standings

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  • Bold text indicates 2019 World Champions.
Pos. Drivers' championships Co-drivers' championships
Move Driver Points Move Co-driver Points
1   Pierre-Louis Loubet 91   Vincent Landais 91
2   Kajetan Kajetanowicz 88   Maciej Szczepaniak 88
3   Benito Guerra 75   Yaroslav Fedorov 73
4   Nikolay Gryazin 73   Jaime Zapata 69
5   Fabio Andolfi 64   Jonas Andersson 62

Notes

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  1. ^ Entry operated by Qatar 2C World Rally Team.
  2. ^ Entry operated by Race Seven.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "rally guide 2" (PDF). rallyaustralia.com.au. Rally Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  2. ^ "FIA announces World Motor Sport Council decisions". fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  3. ^ Howard, Tom (12 November 2019). "UPDATE: Rally Australia cancelled due to bushfires". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  4. ^ Herrero, Daniel (27 September 2019). "Australia drops off WRC calendar in 2020". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Sunday in Australia: Six of the best for Ogier". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  6. ^ "WRC 2 in Australia: Alberto Heller Seals Comfortable Win". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  7. ^ "Hyundai celebrates title". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  8. ^ "Loubet lifts WRC 2 title". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  9. ^ "Sunday in Spain: Tänak takes WRC title". wrc.com. WRC. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  10. ^ a b "Sunday in WRC 2: Heartbreak for Loubet". wrc.com. WRC. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  11. ^ Benyon, Jack (31 October 2019). "Ostberg dropped from one-off Citroen WRC outing". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  12. ^ "Rally Australia 2019 Entry List" (PDF). rallyaustralia.com.au. Rally Australia. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  13. ^ Howard, Tom (10 November 2019). "Rally Aus hopeful of shortened WRC finale amid bushfire threat". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  14. ^ Howard, Tom (12 November 2019). "Rally Australia reveals revised route proposal". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  15. ^ "Rally Australia Cancelled". wrc.com. WRC. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
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Previous rally:
2019 Rally Catalunya 		2019 FIA World Rally Championship Next rally:
2020 Monte Carlo Rally (2020)
Previous rally:
2018 Rally Australia 		2019 Rally Australia Next rally:
TBD
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