The notable narratives of Rally Queensland

The third round of the 2025 EROAD Australian Rally Championship (ARC) season kicks off this weekend with the spotlight on the popular Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland.

With the ARC season to reach its midway point this weekend, there are plenty of narratives starting to shape up for some water cooler chat.

Here’s a look at some of the big talking points ahead of the round.

ARC turns 350
It isn’t quite a 350th birthday, but celebrating 350 official rounds is an honour that anyone should be proud of.

There have been been a lot great memories over the years since the first national season in 1968, and another chapter will be written this weekend when the first car rolls into Muster at 9am AEST on Saturday morning.

Winning a special round like this will have a

Production Cup three-way battle
In both the first two rounds of the season, there was one driver in WOLF Production Cup considered the sole favourite – rising star Josh Wiedman in Canberra and Clayton Hoy in WA – and both drivers lived up to the hype as they took out top honours in their respective events.

For the first time this year, both Wiedman and Hoy are entered in the same event and will go toe-to-toe in the battle for the Cup.

Adding to the mix will be the arrival of two-time Production Cup champion Bodie Reading, who is in for his first event for the year – making this a three-way battle Royale that is sure to go down to the wire.

Interestingly, Reading has never quite been able to get the job done over Clayton Hoy in recent years, so will need to produce a big weekend if he is going to get on top. Reading is arguably in the best form of his career, so now is the time to notch that win over the New South Welshman.

So to pick any one of these drivers for the win would be difficult. One thing is for sure though, if either Hoy or Wiedman win the round, it will be difficult for Reading to come back from that and go for the hat trick.

Can Jackson Long continue his rise? 
The emergence of a young Jackson Long in 2025 has been nothing short of impressive – the teenager’s debut season sees him leading the ARC Junior Cup and, incredibly, leading the WOLF Production Cup.

Attending both rounds of the season has contributed to that feat, but you still have to finish every heat to score points, and Long has done what he has needed to do to put himself here.

The youngster is likely to lose that lead in the standings after this weekend, unless both Hoy and Wiedman crash out on Saturday, but he should be proud of his mighty efforts nonetheless.

Scoring points will be the main goal for Long this weekend, and if he can score a podium finish against the big three – it may well force people to ask the question of putting him in title contention.

Fáilte (Welcome) Patrick O’Brien
Ahead of the Forest Rally, former Irish champion Patrick O’Brien was on track to make his Australian debut alongside a number of his fellow compatriots. Sadly, some external factors caused his WA run to be cancelled.

Thankfully, he was able to obtain a car thanks to Eamon McNabb, who supplied him with a solid piece of machinery in the Ford Fiesta R5.

There is much hype surrounding O’Brien’s participation this weekend – and if Swedish star Tom Kristensson’s debut in WA is anything to go by, we could be in for another stellar weekend of upsets.

Although O’Brien isn’t in the same spec car that Kristensson used in WA, he could have a big say in who wins the rally and who scores valuable points towards a title fight that is heating up.

The only question will be how long it takes him to get acclimatised to the roads.

Harry Bates needs a clean run
A driver that needs a good weekend in Queensland is Harry Bates.

The reigning champion has yet to register an outright win in 2025, but has managed to salvage two podiums after what have been slow starts to each event so far in the season.

It wouldn’t quite be panic stations just yet for the reigning champion, but sitting 18 points behind current championship leader Hayden Paddon would be playing on his mind – especially if the Kiwi breaks further ahead by Sunday night.

A victory in Queensland, a round where he has had mixed results in the past, would go a long way for Bates and co-driver Coral Taylor in their title charge. The big thing for him will be to get off to a flying start and get a good Heat 1 result – something he is lacking.