Wayne Stewart confirms ARC return for 2026

Australian rally stalwart Wayne Stewart is looking forward to making a long-awaited return to the EROAD Australian Rally Championship (ARC), with the veteran to run in three rounds of the 2026 season.

Behind the wheel of his regular 2014 Volkswagen Beetle – G4 alongside longtime co-driver Lucas Zinsstag, Stewart will be featured in all rounds making up the new East Coast Cup, starting with this month’s highly anticipated season-opener, the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland.

His appearance in Queensland will be his first ARC round since 2017 and will mark his first interstate event outside Victoria, having previously only contested the national championship in his home state.

The well-respected long-time competitor is the nephew of ARC great Doug Stewart and has enjoyed plenty of success at state and club level within the competitive Victorian Rally Championship over the years.

While he has yet to secure any outright state titles, Stewart has amassed a number of class victories and outright podiums, including popular events such as the MRF Tyres Akademos Rally, Rally Victoria and East Gippsland stages.

Despite having limited experience in the ARC outside of Victoria, Stewart and Zinsstag have also travelled overseas to Japan to compete in a number of snow events, having finished inside the outright top 10 at the International Rally of Tsumagoi in three appearances and picking up class podiums.

Ahead of his return to the ARC, Stewart said he was looking forward to competing at a national level and enjoying some new experiences along the way.

“I haven’t competed in an ARC event for many years, so I’m really looking forward to getting back out there. We’re starting with the East Coast Challenge in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, but we’ll see how we go from there,” Stewart said.

“At this stage it’s a part-time program, but we might look at adding a few more rounds later on. The car’s much heavier than it was meant to be at 1,575kg, but it’s got some really good gear in it. It’s running Evo 10 components with a Hollinger paddle-shift gearbox, so it should be great fun to drive.

“It was actually Lucas who was really keen to do the ARC. I was planning to stick with the Victorian Rally Championship, but he wanted to go a bit further afield, so instead of heading overseas this year we thought we’d give the East Coast Challenge a go.

“It’s really about doing something different – new events, new roads, and just enjoying the experience. We’re not expecting too much; we’ll probably just be pottering around the back, but it should be a lot of fun.

“Narooma should be a highlight – I’ve heard the roads there are fantastic, so I’m really looking forward to that, and it’ll be interesting to get back up to Queensland as well after such a long time.

“There’s been a lot of changes since I last did the ARC, so it’ll almost feel like starting fresh again. I don’t think we’ll be that competitive – we’ll just focus on enjoying ourselves.”

Stewart and Zinsstag will form part of the 2026 EROAD Australian Rally Championship’s season-opening Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland in Gympie on 17-19 April.

Get more information on Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland. 

The event will have multiple stages live streamed on ARC’s YouTube and Facebook platforms, as well as on Kayo Sports following the ARC’s recent landmark announcement of moving to the streaming service for 2026.