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2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2007 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2006 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2005 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2004 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February

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The Australian Rally Championship’s leading drivers have thrown their full support behind the calendar’s newest event, the Tasmanian Tarmac Challenge. The inclusion of the October 4 and 5 event will not only see the ARC return to Tasmanian for the first time since 2006, but it will be the first major tarmac round in the championship’s prestigious 41 year history.

Leading Mitsubishi driver, Access Hardware’s Spencer Lowndes has voiced his support of adding the tarmac round, the Tasmanian Tarmac Challenge, to the 2008 Australian Rally Championship calendar. It will be the first time since 1996 that a tarmac event has formed part of the ARC and Lowndes is looking forward to the challenge of competing against the nation’s best drivers on a surface that is foreign to most of the field.

Organisers of the Tasmanian Tarmac Challenge have put their hands up to host a round of the Australian Rally Championship in Burnie this year. The expression of interest to the Championship organiser, ARCom, follows the cancellation of this year’s Rally of Melbourne, round five of the national series, which was scheduled for October 18-20.

Negotiations are already well advanced to ensure that an event will replace the NGK Rally of Melbourne in this year’s Australian Rally Championship. Australian Rally Commission Chairman Mr Colin Trinder is confident that a replacement event can be secured to maintain a six-round championship in 2008 after NGK Rally of Melbourne organisers announced the cancellation of that event on Tuesday.

Fallout from difficulties in the global economic credit market have been blamed for the decision to cancel the 2008 Rally of Melbourne to allow the organising team to focus on the 2009 event. However the Australian Rally Commission (ARCom) has already taken steps to ensure that holding over the event in 2008 will not significantly impact on the Championship, with discussions regarding a replacement event already well advanced.