2019 Rally Australia
2019 Rally Australia 28. Kennards Hire Rally Australia | ||
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Round 14 of 14 in the 2019 World Rally Championship
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Host country | Australia | |
Rally base | Coffs Harbour, New South Wales | |
Dates run | 14 – 17 November 2019 | |
Start location | Coffs Harbour, New South Wales | |
Finish location | Coramba, New South Wales | |
Stages | 25 (324.53 km; 201.65 miles)[1] | |
Stage surface | Gravel | |
Transport distance | 759.47 km (471.91 miles) | |
Overall distance | 1,084.00 km (673.57 miles) | |
Statistics | ||
Crews registered | 26 | |
Cancellation | Rally cancelled due to bushfires. |
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]
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
[edit]Championship standings prior to the event
[edit]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
[edit]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]
Route
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]World Rally Cars
[edit]Championship standings
[edit]- 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
[edit]Championship standings
[edit]- 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
[edit]Championship standings
[edit]- 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
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c "rally guide 2" (PDF). rallyaustralia.com.au. Rally Australia. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ "FIA announces World Motor Sport Council decisions". fia.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 October 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
- ^ Howard, Tom (12 November 2019). "UPDATE: Rally Australia cancelled due to bushfires". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
- ^ Herrero, Daniel (27 September 2019). "Australia drops off WRC calendar in 2020". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
- ^ "Sunday in Australia: Six of the best for Ogier". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ "WRC 2 in Australia: Alberto Heller Seals Comfortable Win". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 18 November 2018. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
- ^ "Hyundai celebrates title". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 13 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
- ^ "Loubet lifts WRC 2 title". wrc.com. WRC Promoter GmbH. 14 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
- ^ "Sunday in Spain: Tänak takes WRC title". wrc.com. WRC. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ^ a b "Sunday in WRC 2: Heartbreak for Loubet". wrc.com. WRC. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- ^ Benyon, Jack (31 October 2019). "Ostberg dropped from one-off Citroen WRC outing". autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
- ^ "Rally Australia 2019 Entry List" (PDF). rallyaustralia.com.au. Rally Australia. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ Howard, Tom (10 November 2019). "Rally Aus hopeful of shortened WRC finale amid bushfire threat". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ Howard, Tom (12 November 2019). "Rally Australia reveals revised route proposal". speedcafe.com. Speedcafe. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
- ^ "Rally Australia Cancelled". wrc.com. WRC. 12 November 2019. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
External links
[edit]- Official website (in English)
- 2019 Rally Australia in e-wrc website
- The official website of the World Rally Championship