Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland will include 39 crews in the KickAss Products Queensland Rally Championship, with many teams cross-entered in the Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship.
Making their first appearance for the 2024 QRC season will be top seeded entry of Clayton Hoy and Pip Bennett in their Mitsubishi Evo 6. Also a first for the championship will be the Ford Fiesta Rally2 entry of Tom Clarke and Ryan Preston.
Other QRC regulars making a start at Rally Queensland include Joshua Wiedman and Nick Reid, who are currently placed second in the MainFix ARC Production Cup, Glenn Brinkman and co-driver Jacci Hughes their Mitsubishi Evo 9, Ian Menzies and co-driver Bob McGowan, and Subaru WRX driver Erik Johnsson with Larisa Biggar.
Popular Queenslanders Ryan Williams and Brad Jones also make a start, but courtesy of a crowd-funding effort to cross-enter both the ARC and QRC.
“Having the opportunity to compete in the ARC is fantastic to compare yourself with Australia’s best, but at the same time our main force is the QRC championship fight,” Williams said.
“With so many young blokes in very similar cars is going to make for great competition and we are all great mates too, so we will have a great laugh along the way.”
Hot classics will be another crowd favourite in the QRC 2WD category. One of the top seeds will be the Datsun Stanza steered by ARC round winner Ryan Smart with co-driver Holly Kilbride, Clay Badenoch in his Toyota Celica RA40 with Angus Fraser on the notes, and Brian O’Neill and Mac Kierans in a Mark II Ford Escort to look forward to.
The Acworth Recruitment Qld Clubman Rally Series is growing strength to strength. Craig Mole and Craig Smith entered in their Datsun Stanza will have a battle on their hands with close seeds Shane and Sylvie Garner, and David Micjan and Kevin O’Connor both in Subaru WRX machinery.
Rounding out the field is the Woolgoolga Service Centre Queensland Novice Rally Series, featuring many drivers starting their rally journey. Running his Hyundai Excel will be Tyler Broughton and Brett Hausmann, showing good form in previous events. Also entered are Max Bailey and Charlie Cogman also in a Hyundai Excel, and Sam Donovan with Scott Ferris in a classic 1976 VW Beetle.
The KickAss Products Queensland Rally Championship will be contested over 12 stages comprising of three heats for crews to score valuable points. The competitive distance of over 160km is slightly less than those entered in the ARC, but still a challenge for the two days of competition.
