Rally Australia

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Marcus Grönholm at the Bunnings Jumps, one of the most famous features of the Rally Australia.

Rally Australia is an automobile rally event which was held in and around Perth, Western Australia between 1988 and 2006. The next event is due to be held in Queensland in 2009, and automobile parts supplier, Repco, have just signed on as joint sponsors of the 2009 event and Rally New Zealand.

1 Rally Australia 1988 - 2006
2 The future
3 Winners
4 Notes
5 References

[edit] Rally Australia 1988 - 2006

The FIA World Rally Championship first came to Australia hosted in the state capital of Perth, Western Australia. Initially a super-special stage was run at Richmond Raceway near Fremantle with the service park at Langley Park on the Swan River. Competitors pushed as hard as they could on the world-famous jumps in the Bannister Forest, the super-special stage Langley Park & later the Gloucester Park Super Special stage. It was praised for it's unique road surface, consisting of tiny, smooth round stones that had the effect of driving on ball bearings.

Rally Australia was voted "Rally of the Year" in 1995, 1999 and 2000 by the FIA World Rally Championship teams.

The 2006 rally held on the 26th to 29th of October was the final one staged in Western Australia. It has been cancelled by the holders of the rally contract, the Western Australia Tourism Commission.

[edit] The future

After missing a year from the 2007 WRC calendar, Rally Australia was to have a new home from 2008, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland on the east coast of Australia. However without planning approval from the Queensland state government to construct the proposed I-METT facility to headquarter the rally, the event is on hiatus and a possible return will not happen until the 2009 season, if at all. ^[1] ^[2]

[edit] Winners

Year	Driver	Co-Driver	Car
2006	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus WRC
2005	François Duval	Sven Smeets	Citroën Xsara WRC
2004	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën Xsara WRC
2003	Petter Solberg	Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC
2002	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
2001	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
2000	Marcus Grönholm	Timo Rautiainen	Peugeot 206 WRC
1999	Richard Burns	Robert Reid	Subaru Impreza WRC
1998	Tommi Mäkinen	Risto Mannisenmäki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V
1997	Colin McRae	Nicky Grist	Subaru Impreza 555
1996	Tommi Mäkinen	Seppo Harjanne	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
1995	Kenneth Eriksson	Staffan Parmander	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
1994	Colin McRae	Derek Ringer	Subaru Impreza 555
1993	Juha Kankkunen	Nicky Grist	Toyota Celica GT4
1992	Didier Auriol	Bernard Occelli	Lancia Delta HF Integrale
1991	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Lancia Delta Integrale 16V
1990	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Lancia Delta Integrale
1989	Juha Kankkunen	Juha Piironen	Toyota Celica GT4
1988	Ingvar Carlsson	Per Carlsson	Mazda 323 4WD