The EROAD Australian Rally Championship has seen a a significant shift take place in the standings as a result of Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland, with Hyundai making its mark.
Heading into the third round of the 2025 season, the ARC was slightly led by the Hyundai i20 Rally2 of Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, however a victory in Gympie and drama to all their main title rivals saw them increase their lead at the midway point of the season.
The Kiwi duo now sit 35 points ahead of Toyota Gazoo Racing Rally of Canberra winners Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin, while reigning champions Harry Bates and Coral Taylor are third on the standings a further 29 points behind after their DNF in Heat 2 of Rally Queensland.
View the full results via the Subaru Results Hub.
With Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall having had a disastrous start to Queensland, crashing out on the second stage of the event, their title hopes took a significant blow as they fell to fifth on the outright standings, and more and 130 points off the leaders.
The DNF opened up the door for Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney to move up a standings courtesy of their well deserved outright runner-up finish – which also made it a Hyundai 1-2 in the ARC for the first time in a long time.
Rally Queensland results had a major impact on the manufacturer standings too, with Rullo’s rise up the order helping Hyundai to replace Toyota at the top – disrupting the latter’s dominance over the competition in the last few years.
One of the performances of the round in Queensland was that of Clayton Hoy and Erin Kelly, who not only scored a victory in the WOLF Production Cup, but also picked up an outright podium in the process.
Their emphatic performance helped the duo to sixth on the overall standings and into the lead in the WOLF Production Cup – albeit with a slender nine point buffer over young gun and ARC Junior Cup leader, Jackson Long and his co-driver Damian Long.
In addition to a personal sense, the pair’s outright podium saw Mitsubishi charge to third on the manufacturer standings, highlighting their robust efforts in less superior machinery.
Shane and Sylvie Garner built on their lead in the ARC 4WD Classic Cup, as did Tony Sullens and Kaylie Newel, who now hold a commanding 150-point lead in the ARC 2WD Cup after completing in all three rounds.
There was also no change at the top of the ARC 2WD Classic Cup, with Toyota Gazoo Racing Rally of Canberra winner Trevor Stilling on equal points with Forest Rally Winner Nicholas Box, while Zack Hegde and Tony Oates sit third and fourth respectively as they shared shared the points in Queensland.
One big change in the class was in the co-driver standings as Caleb Ash, who called the notes for Box in WA and Hegde in Queensland, elevating him to top spot.
Toby Price has continued to impress in his maiden ARC campaign alongside Holly Kilbride, and comfortably leads the Subaru WRX Challenge after securing a consecutive victory in the sunshine state.
View the full results via the Subaru Results Hub.
The 2025 EROAD Australian Rally Championship continues next month with The Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally on 22-24 August.
