# 1982 Australian Rally Championship

The 1982 Australian Rally Championship was a series of five rallying events held across Australia. It was the 15th season in the history of the competition.
Geoff Portman and navigator Ross Runnalls in a Datsun 1600 won the 1982 Championship despite strong opposition from the Fiat 131 Abarth of Greg Carr and Fred Gocentas.

## Season review

The 15th Australian Rally Championship was held over five events across Australia, the season consisting of one event each for Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia and two for New South Wales. There was no major factory support for any of the teams and with a wide variety of cars and competitors it was a difficult season to predict an outcome. At the end of the year Portman and Runnalls had held off tough opposition from Carr and Gocentas and brought their 12-year-old Datsun 1600 home to its first ARC championship.

## The Rallies

The five events of the 1982 season were as follows.
| Round | Rally | Date |
| 1 | Lutwyche Village Shopping Centre Rally (QLD) | 1–2 May 1982 |
| 2 | The Sunday Times Safari (WA) | 5–6 June 1982 |
| 3 | Dunlop 2GO Rally (NSW) | 14–15 August 1982 |
| 4 | Commonwealth Motors Rally (NSW) | 4 September 1982 |
| 5 | Arco Alpine Rally (VIC) | 20–21 November 1982 |

### Round One – The Lutwyche Village Shopping Centre Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car |
| 1 | Greg Carr | Fred Gocentas | Fiat 131 Abarth |
| 2 | Ed Mulligan | Geoff Jones | Ford Escort BDA |
| 3 | Wayne Bell | Colin Parry | Holden Commodore |
| 4 | Peter Glennie | Brian Smith | Datsun Stanza |
| 5 | Doug Thompson | Jim Maude | Datsun Stanza |
| 6 | Dennis Brown | Warren Tegg | Ford Escort |
| 7 | John Atkinson | Monty Suffern | Datsun Stanza |
| 8 | Mark Taylor | Errol Bailey | Mitsubishi Lancer |
| 9 | Peter Marcovich | Greg Weale | Ford Escort |

### Round Two – The Sunday Times Safari

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalties |
| 1 | Geoff Portman | Ross Runnalls | Datsun 1600 | 157m 26s |
| 2 | Greg Carr | Fred Gocentas | Fiat 131 Abarth | 159m 59 s |
| 3 | Clive Slater | Rod van der Stratten | Toyota Corolla | 161m 26s |
| 4 | Tony Masling | Geoff Jones | Datsun Stanza | 161m 43s |
| 5 | Bob Nicoli | David Hartley | Datsun Stanza | 163m 20s |
| 6 | Doug Thompson | Jim Maude | Datsun Stanza | 165m 35s |
| 7 | Wayne Bell | Colin Parry | Holden Commodore | |
| 8 | Jim Martin | Peter MacNeall | Datsun 1600 | |
| 9 | Mark Anderson | David Burton | Datsun 1600 | |
| 10 | John Atkinson | Monty Suffern | Datsun Stanza | |

### Round Three – The Dunlop 2GO Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalties |
| 1 | Geoff Portman | Ross Runnalls | Datsun 1600 | 2m 44.55s |
| 2 | Greg Carr | Fred Gocentas | Fiat 131 Abarth | 2m 45.23s |
| 3 | Hugh Bell | Steve Ellis | Datsun 1600 | 2m 46.15s |
| 4 | Tony Masling | Dave Boddy | Datsun Stanza V8 | 2m 49.29s |
| 5 | Gary Burns | Jim Gleeson | Ford Escort BDA | 2m 50.40s |
| 6 | Colin Bond | John Dawson-Damer | Triumph TR8 | 2m 50.57s |
| 7 | Ross Dunkerton | Paul Rainer | Datsun 1600 | 2m 51.22s |
| 8 | David Officer | Kate Hobson | Mitsubishi Galant | 2m 52.15s |
| 9 | Doug Thompson | Ron Lugg | Datsun Stanza | 2m 53.13s |
| 10 | Clive Slater | Adrian Stafford | Toyota Corolla | 2m 55.44s |

### Round Four – The Commonwealth Motors Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalties |
| 1 | Geoff Portman | Ross Runnalls | Datsun 1600 | 105m 43s |
| 2 | Greg Carr | Fred Gocentas | Fiat 131 Abarth | 109m 30s |
| 3 | Doug Thompson | Ron Lugg | Datsun Stanza | 113m 55s |
| 4 | Barry Lowe | Ted Dobrzynski | Datsun 1600 "Dazda" | 115m 24s |
| 5 | John Atkinson | Monty Suffern | Datsun Stanza | 118m 47s |
| 6 | Don Ogilvie | Stephen Simmons | Datsun | 120m 53s |
| 7 | John Macara | David Hartley | Mazda | 121m 20s |
| 8 | Phil Horan | Adrian Ward | Datsun | 123m 40s |
| 9 | Peter Pittaway | Chris Travers | Falcon XW ute | 124m 36s |
| 10 | Kevin Pedder | Peter Gubbins | Datsun | 125m 03s |

### Round Five – Arco Alpine Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalties |
| 1 | Geoff Portman | Ross Runnalls | Datsun 1600 | 340m 56s |
| 2 | Doug Thompson | Ron Lugg | Datsun Stanza | 354m 39s |
| 3 | Steve Ashton | Rosemary Nixon | Datsun 1600 | 355m 18s |
| 4 | Greg Carr | Fred Gocentas | Fiat 131 Abarth | 359m 53s |
| 5 | Ian Swan | Derek Rawson | Datsun Stanza | 360m 39s |
| 6 | Brian Smith | Peter Mignot | Mitsubishi Galant | 361m 37s |
| 7 | Peter Clarke | Michael Harker | Datsun Stanza | 362m 41s |
| 8 | Paul Bramble | Kel Haynes | Mitsubishi Lancer | 364m 34s |
| 9 | Chris Berry | Ray Stubbs | Datsun | 364m 44s |
| 10 | Jon Waterhouse | Gregory Avon | Mazda | 366m 04s |

## 1982 Drivers and Navigators Championships

Final pointscore for 1982 is as follows.

### Geoff Portman – Champion Driver 1982

| Position | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | Geoff Portman | Datsun 1600 | 96 |
| 2 | Greg Carr | Fiat 131 Abarth | 89 |
| 3 | Doug Thompson | Datsun Stanza | 43 |
| 4 | Tony Masling | Datsun Stanza | 22 |
| 5 | Ed Mulligan | Ford Escort RS 1800 | 18 |
| =5 | Wayne Bell | Holden Commodore | 18 |

### Ross Runnalls – Champion Navigator 1982

| Position | Navigator | Car |
| 1 | Ross Runnalls | Datsun 1600 |
| 2 | Fred Gocentas | Fiat 131 Abarth |
| 3 | Geoff Jones | Datsun Stanza |
| 4 | Col Parry | Holden Commodore |
| 5 | Rod van der Stratten | Toyota Corolla |
| 6 | Steve Ellis | Datsun 1600 |