When the EROAD Australian Rally Championship last ventured to Gympie for the popular Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland, it was Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall who took out the victory after a commanding performance across the two days of action.
With Pedder and Macneall claiming top honours behind the wheel of their Skoda Fabia R5, it was an-all Skoda podium lockout was Eddie Maguire and Zak Braley finished in second ahead of teammates Steve Maguire and Ben Searcy in third.
In the Cups, Clayton Hoy and co-driver Andrew Bennett dominated the WOLF Production Cup to comfortably win and a Heat 2 victory for Peter Dimmock and Paul Bennett saw them take out the Trenching Systems Australia 2WD Classic Cup, while Justin Northage and Scott Muhling took out the ARC 2WD Cup, as Mitch Garrad and Taylah Murphy won the ARC Junior Cup.
How the event unfolded
Heat 1
Right from the get go, Pedder and Macneall were on point as they clean swept Heat 1 with eight stage wins as then ARC leaders Harry Bates and Coral Taylor crashed out just two kilometres into the first stage.
After the opening three stages, Pedder and Macneal had charged out to a 20 second lead over the second Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia GR Yaris Rally2 of Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin, before more drama struck on stage four – Bates and McLoughlin having a big off and retiring as a result of the roll over.
That elevated Eddie and Brakey into second spot 30 seconds off the pace, while Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney sat third outright a further seven seconds ahead of Steve Maguire and Searcy.
Rullo was the next to fall victim to the event as an incident on stage seven caused the IntelliSpatial Fleetcare Racing Hyundai i20 Rally2 to stop – costing them four minutes and putting them out of contention.
That incident saw two Production Cup stars sneak their way into the overall top five as Hoy and Bennett held a slight buffer over the Subaru WRX of Molly Taylor and Andy Sarandis – the latter eventually pipping the Mitsubishi Evo of Hoy and Bennett for Heat 1 Production Cup honours by just two tenths of a second courtesy of consecutive outright P3s
Other notable cup results saw Ryan Smart and Holly Kilbride finish with the Trenching Systems Australia 2WD Classic Cup Heat victory, while Mitch Garrad and Taylah Murphy claimed the ARC Junior Cup.
Heat 2
Pedder and Macneall picked up where they left off on Sunday morning as the enjoyed a victory on the day’s first two stages before the returning Rullo and Searcy broke the leaders’ streak on the last stage of the day’s first pass.
Meanwhile, the Wolf Production Cup saw plenty of chaos unfold in the morning’s first few stages as Taylor and Sarandis suffered some misfiring issues before losing a front right driveshaft and rear left rotor on the next stage and to retire from the event.
Molly wasn’t the first to retire for the day either with Molly Spalding and Matt Dillon crashing out on stage nine, while both the Mitsubishi Evo of Hoy and Bennett and Subaru of Bodie Reading and Mark Young having issues in the morning. Both crews were able to get up and running to finish off the event.
Harry and Coral were another notable issue to occur on Sunday morning – balance issues causing a big spin and a loss in a time on stage 10.
However the pair managed to recover nicely in the midway service – capitalising on a flat tyre to Pedder and Macneall to snatch the Heat lead by two seconds. Harry and Coral didn’t put a foot wrong in the rest of the event, as wins in final two stages, including the Power Stage, all but completed an impressive comeback to seal the Heat 2 win over Pedder and McNeall, while Eddie and Brakey’s rounded out the top three for the Heat after edging out Rullo and Glenney by less than 10 seconds.
Despite their Heat 2 efforts, Harry and Coral had to settle for sixth in the event overall as Pedder won his first event in 10 years.
There was plenty of drama throughout the ARC Cups, as Peter Dimmock and Paul Bennett’s Trenching Systems Australia 2WD Classic Cup victory in Heat 2 helped them to the overall win.
In the ARC 2WD Cup, Justin Northage and Scott Muhling took out the win despite finishing Heat 2 in second place, while Mitch Garrad and Taylah Murphy made it two Heat wins for the round to win the ARC Junior Cup.
The EROAD Australian Rally Championship heads to Gympie for the 2025 edition of Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland on 4-6 July.
