# 2008 Australian Rally Championship

The 2008 Australian Rally Championship Season is the 41st Season in the history of the competition. This year once again there will be 6 classes in the competition and over 50 official drivers and 48 teams.

## The Rallies

The 2008 Season has once again featured a total of 6 Rallies across Australia starting at the QUIT Rally until the final event at Coffs Harbour.
| Round | Rally | Date |
| 1 | QUIT Forest Rally | 5–6 April |
| 2 | Rally of Canberra | 10–11 May |
| 3 | Coates Rally Queensland | 21–22 June |
| 4 | Sprints Auto Parts RallySA | 26–27 July |
| 5 | T.A.S Tarmac Challenge | 4–5 October |
| 6 | Coffs Coast Rally | 15–16 November |

## Teams & Drivers

Officially, this season, there will be only one factory-built team competing in the competition. This will be the TTR (Toyota Team Racing) Team. They win the Manufacturer's title for the 3rd consecutive season by default, this is due to the Ford-based Focus RS team of last season pulling out and instead deciding to field a Subaru and changed their Name to PIRTEK LWR Rally Team.
There are other manufacturers competing as Privateer teams which don't represent the manufacturer unlike the TTR team which represents Toyota, such as the Evans Motorsport Team which uses a Subaru but isn't backed by the manufacturer. All in all, there will be over 50 drivers competing across numerous classes. The Super 2000 class will once again be the Top-Category which is followed by the Group N and the Privateers competition which sees privately owned teams competing.
| Team | Manufacturer | Number | Driver | Co-driver | Class |
| TTR | Toyota | 1 | Simon Evans | Sue Evans | Super 2000 |
| TTR | Toyota | 2 | Neal Bates | Coral Taylor | Super 2000 |
| Simon Evans Motorsport | Subaru | 3 | Eli Evans | Chris Murphy | Group N |
| Pirtek LWR Rally Team | Subaru | 4 | Michael Guest | David Green | Group N |
| Japanese Wholesales Spares | Ford | 5 | Darren Windus | Jon Mortimer | Super 2000 |
| Access Hardware | Mitsubishi | 6 | Spencer Lowndes | Chris Randall | Group N |
| Raymond Partner Accountants | Toyota | 7 | Glen Raymond | Matt Raymond | Group NP |
| Daikin Motorsport | Mitsubishi | | Nathan Quinn | Craig Jones | Privateers |
| Driver Skills Australia | Subaru | 15 | Mark Butcher | Lisa White | Privateers |
| Fusion Motorsport | Subaru | | Mitchell Hall | | Privateers |
| Dennis Dunlop Racing | Mitsubishi | | Dennis Dunlop | Jacqueline Dunlop | Privateers |
| Ralliart | Mitsubishi | | Molly Taylor | | Privateers |
| Activ Rallyesport | Mitsubishi | 10 | Justin Dowel | Lisa White | Privateers |
| KME Rally Sport | Mitsubishi | | Brendon Kaitler | Vivek Samy | Privateers |
| Kipling's Bakery Point Wakefield | Mitsubishi | | Brett Kipling | Darren Masters | Privateers |
| Fullerton Financial Services | Mitsubishi | 11 | Bruce Fullerton | Hugh Reardon-Smith | Privateers |
| Fullerton Financial Services | Mitsubishi | 12 | Ryan Smart | Rebecca Smart | Privateers |
| Australian Plastic Profiles | Mitsubishi | | David Hills | David Callaghan | Privateers |
| Secure Glass Racing | Subaru | | Roman Watkins | Toni Feaver | Privateers |
| GSA Motorsport | Mitsubishi | | Steven Stepheard | Tom Smith | Privateers |
| Redline Oil | Subaru | 17 | Alex Stone | Dianna Madlener | Privateers |
| RMS Service Centre | Subaru | 19 | Leigh Hynes | Stuart Percival | Privateers |
| Oz2000 Rallyesport | Volkswagen S2000 | | Marius Swart | Gerard McConkey | Privateers |
| Barry Kirk Rallying | Mazda | 14 | Barry Kirk | Jahmeil Taylor | F16 |
| Molly Taylor Rallysport | Mitsubishi | 22 | Molly Taylor | | F16 |
| SR Automotive | Toyota | | Stewart Reid | John Allen | Privateers |
| Rally Power Motorsport | Daihatsu | | James Rodda | Naomi Tillet | F16 |
| Marlin Australia | Holden | | John Murray Senior | Jeffrey Stevens | Aussie Cup |
| Cullen Motorsport | Ford | | Ben Cullen | Mathew Cullen | F16 |
| Houghton Team Racing | Subaru | | Richard Houghton | Andrew Houghton | Privateers |

## 2008 Rallies

* see: 2008 Rally of WA
* see: 2008 International Rally of Canberra

## Broadcasting

The series will once again be broadcast on the Australian channel, Channel 10 which will have a 1-hour magazine-type show on Sunday afternoons, on the same week as the events are actually taking place and concluding. All of the events will be broadcast between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m on Sunday.

## Drivers Championship

| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Forest | Forest | Canberra | Canberra | Queensland | Queensland | RallySA | RallySA | T.A.S. | T.A.S. | Coffs Coast | Coffs Coast | Total |
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Heat1 | Heat2 | Heat1 | Heat2 | Heat1 | Heat2 | Heat1 | Heat2 | Heat1 | Heat2 | Heat1 | Heat2 | Total |
| 1 | Neal Bates | Toyota Racing Developments | Toyota Corolla S2000 | 34 | 40 | 40 | 34 | 40 | 31 | 34 | 30 | 40 | 41 | 27 | 27 | 418 |
| 2 | Eli Evans | Simon Evans Motorsport | Subaru Impreza WRX | 22 | 30 | 34 | | 30 | 40 | 30 | 40 | | | 51 | 60 | 337 |
| 3 | Simon Evans | Toyota Racing Developments | Toyota Corolla S2000 | 40 | 1 | 30 | 40 | | | 40 | 35 | 30 | 34 | 60 | 7.5 | 318.5 |
| 4 | Spencer Lowndes | Access Hardware | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 12 | 26 | 22 | 26 | 20 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 34 | | 33 | 33 | 284 |
| 5 | Glen Raymond | Raymond Partner Accountants | Toyota Corolla Sportivo | 10 | 22 | 20 | | 12 | 22 | 22 | 14 | 22 | 30 | 21 | 51 | 246 |
| 6 | Michael Guest | Pirtek LWR Rally Team | Subaru Impreza WRX | 9 | 34 | | 12 | 34 | 34 | | | 10 | 22 | 39 | | 194 |
| 7 | Justin Dowel | Activ Rallyesport | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 30 | 18 | | 14 | | 16 | 20 | 22 | | | 30 | 9 | 159 |
| 8 | Dennis Dunlop | Dennis Dunlop Racing | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII | | | | 20 | | | 18 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 30 | 144 |
| 9 | Nathan Quinn | Daikin Motorsport | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V | | | | 9 | 22 | 20 | | | | | 45 | 45 | 141 |
| 10 | Molly Taylor | Molly Taylor Rallysport Ralliart | Mitsubishi Mirage Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | | | 10 | | 6 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 18 | 18 | 13.5 | 21 | 110.5 |
| 11 | Ryan Smart | Fullerton Financial Services | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI | | | 16 | 10 | 16 | 18 | | | | | 6 | 39 | 105 |
| 12 | Darren Windus | Japanese Wholesales Spares | Ford Fiesta S2000 | 26 | 10 | 26 | 30 | | | | | | | | | 92 |
| 13 | Brenton Kaitler | KME Rally Sport | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI | 20 | 16 | | | | | | | 26 | 26 | | | 88 |
| 14 | Barry Kirk | Barry Kirk Rallying | Mazda RX-7 | 14 | 12 | 5 | | | | 6 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 4.5 | 6 | 78.5 |
| 15 | John Berne | | Subaru Impreza RS | | | 9 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | | | 9 | 13.5 | 73.5 |
| 16 | Bruce Fullerton | Fullerton Financial Services | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI | | | 18 | 16 | | | | | | | 15 | 24 | 73 |
| 17 | Ben Cullen | Cullen Motorsport | Toyota Sprinter | | | 7 | 5 | 8 | 7 | | | 16 | 14 | | 12 | 69 |
| 17 | Simon Knowles | | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI | | | | | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | | | 12 | 18 | 69 |
| 19 | Richard HOughton | Houghton Team Racing | Subaru Impreza WRX | | | 8 | 8 | | | 8 | 12 | | | 10.5 | 15 | 61.5 |
| 20 | Mark Butcher | Driver Skills Australia | Subaru Impreza WRX | 16 | 14 | | | | | | | 16 | 14 | | | 60 |
| 21 | Matt van Tuinen | | Subaru Impreza WRX | | | | | | | 14 | 16 | | | 24 | | 54 |
| 22 | Steven Shepheard | GSA Motorsport | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo XI | | | 14 | 22 | | | 16 | | | | | | 52 |
| 23 | David Hills | Australian Plastic Profiles | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | | | | 18 | 14 | 12 | | | | | | | 44 |
| 24 | John V. Murray | Marlin Australia | Subaru Impreza WRX | | | 6 | 4 | | | 7 | 8 | | | 7.5 | 10.5 | 43 |
| 25 | Roman Watkins | Secure Glass Racing | Subaru Impreza WRX | 18 | 20 | | | | | | | | | | | 38 |
| 26 | Marius Swart | Oz2000 Rallyesport | Volkswagen Polo S2000 | | | 12 | 6 | 7 | 10 | | | | | | | 35 |
| 27 | Brett Kipling | Kipling's Bakery Point Wakefield | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | | | | | | 14 | | 20 | | | | | 34 |
| 28 | Stewart Reid | SR Automotive | Toyota Corolla Sportivo | | | | | 26 | | | | | | | | 26 |
| 29 | John Goasdoue | | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI | | | | | 18 | | | | | | | | 18 |
| 30 | Mitchell Hall | | Subaru Impreza WRX | | | | | | | 5 | | | | | | 5 |