After picking up the ARC 4WD Classic Cup win at last month’s Toyota Gazoo Racing Rally of Canberra, Andrew Penny is on the right path to take out the class title.
Alongside Rhys Llewellyn, the New South Welshman produced a highly consistent weekend during the 2025 season opener, despite his 1995 Subara Impreza WRX – C3 facing a number of mechanical issues throughout the 14-stage event.
In the end, Penny was rewarded for his consistency with two Cup heat wins – the second of which was a comfortable six-minute victory on Sunday, while also finishing well inside the outright top 10, ending just two points shy of Kiwi superstar, Hayden Paddon, and third in the WOLF Production Cup.
In what was his first EROAD Australian Rally Championship event in more than 12 months, the victory kick-started his campaign in style – giving him valuable maximum points in a season where he will only compete in four rounds.
“It’s always important to get the season off to a good start because it just sets up the rest of the year – especially as we are planning to do four rounds with Tasmania being a maybe,” Penny said.
“Our focus in Canberra was to run down the middle of the road, avoid bouncing off banks, and prevent punctures and I think that is where the speed came from.
“Obviously we took a different approach to Mal Keough, who had a lot more commitment over those bigger jumps, but we were pleased with our efforts.
“Canberra is our home round as it’s very easy for us to get to but one mistake absolutely annihilates you there. It’s an unforgiving event and has always been about attrition where people go out too hard on their cars.”
Despite sitting out for 12 months, Penny never felt too out of shape and was over the moon about his efforts as a privateer entry.
“As we did some state rounds last year, we didn’t feel too rusty, but the one area where it was a bit of a challenge was getting used to the pace notes again as we hadn’t done that for a while,” Penny added.
“I think the result was good because it showed what people can do without a massive budget. There were a fair few people, like Neal Bates, who came over and gave us a hand to set up when we first arrived, which was really nice. It was great to get recognition.
“We’re a modest outfit with my wife doing servicing and fuel. We pretty much prepare the car ourselves and roll it out like that.”
With the veteran now out until the Queensland round, his focus was fully on preparing the car for the third round of the 2025 season and an event that has long proved a challenge.
“Queensland will be fun even though we haven’t had a very good run there in the past. We’ve only raced there three times, but we have written off two cars,” Penny explained.
“In not going to WA, we need a big result in Queensland. It’s going to be a big effort due to that past, but we’ll get out there and do what we do best and bring the car home in one piece.”
Penny will be back in EROAD Australian Rally Championship action at the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland on 4–6 July.
