1988 Australian Rally Championship

The 1988 Australian Rally Championship was a series of rallying events held across Australia. It was the 21st season of the Australian Rally Championship.

The series for 1988 had just four events, with Queenslanders Murray Coote and Iain Stewart taking out the title in their Mazda 323 4WD. Four-wheel drive vehicles dominated the series signalling the end of any chances of two wheel drive vehicles being competitive. The Alpine Rally was not included in the year's events, and the Esanda Rally in the ACT was only included at the last minute after the cancellation of the Queensland rally round due to withdrawal of Police permission to use Shire Roads.

Season review

The 21st Australian Rally Championship was held over four events across Australia, the season consisting of one event each for Tasmania, Western Australia, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory.

The Rallies

The four events of the 1988 season were as follows.[1]

Round Rally Date
1 APPM/TT-Line Rally Tasmania 26–27 March 1988
2 BP Visco Forest Rally (WA) 30 April – 1 May 1988
3 2EC Bega Valley Rally (NSW) 11–12 June 1988
4 Esanda Finance Rally of Australia (ACT) 12–14 August 1988

Round One – APPM/TT-Line Rally Tasmania
Position Driver Navigator Car Time
1 Murray Coote Iain Stewart Mazda 323 4WD 4h 17m 06s
2 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Mitsubishi Starion 4h 20m 42s
3 Peter Glennie Peter Clark Subaru RX Turbo 4h 24m 33s
4 David Officer Kate Officer Mitsubishi Starion 4h 25m 57s
5 Patrick Barber Simon Brown Ford Laser TX3 4WD 4h 25m 36s
6 Graham Alexander David Stewart Toyota Corolla GT 4h 30m 30s
7 George Kahler Tony Best Mazda 323 4WD 4h 31m 35s
8 Adrian Taylor Dave Ambrose Honda Civic CRX 4h 32m 02s

Round Two – BP Visco Forest Rally
Position Driver Navigator Car Time
1 Wayne Bell Dave Boddy Mazda 323 4WD 3h 17m 59s
2 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Mitsubishi Starion 3h 20m 08s
3 Murray Coote Iain Stewart Mazda 323 4WD 3h 22m 09s
4 Rob Herridge Steve Vanderbyl Subaru RX Turbo 3h 22m 37s
5 John Macara Rod van der Straaten Subaru RX Turbo 3h 22m 46s
6 Patrick Barber Simon Brown Ford Laser TX3 4WD 3h 30m 49s
7 Mark Tolcher David Tolcher Subaru RX Turbo 3h 32m 15s
8 Tony Flood Martin Morris Toyota Corolla GT 3h 32m 34s

Round Three – 2EC Bega Valley Rally
Position Driver Navigator Car Time
1 David Eadie Chris Shearer Mazda 323 4WD 2h 55m 42s
2 Mark Roach Mark Price Mazda 323 4WD 2h 58m 27s
3 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Mitsubishi Starion 2h 58m 33s
4 Murray Coote Iain Stewart Mazda 323 4WD 2h 59m 00s
5 Eric Pietila Mike Rebbechi Mazda 323 4WD 3h 01m 14s
6 Mark Tolcher David Tolcher Subaru RX Turbo 3h 03m 58s
7 Ian Hill Phil Bonser Subaru RX Turbo 3h 04m 50s
8 Patrick Barber Simon Brown Ford Laser TX3 4WD 3h 06m 47s
9 George Kahler Tony Best Mazda 323 4WD 3h 09m 18s
10 Graham Alexander David Stewart Toyota Corolla GT 3h 09m 30s

Round Four – Esanda Finance Rally of Australia
Position Driver Navigator Car Time
1 Murray Coote Iain Stewart Mazda 323 4WD 3h 26m 54s
2 David Eadie Chris Shearer Mazda 323 4WD 3h 28m 17s
3 Peter Clark David Boddy Mazda 323 4WD 3h 28m 23s
4 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Mitsubishi Starion 3h 29m 14s
5 Ed Ordynski Mark Nelson Subaru RX Turbo 3h 31m 11s
6 David Officer Kate Officer Mitsubishi Starion 3h 34m 58s
7 George Kahler Tony Best Mazda 323 4WD 3h 37m 11s
8 Adrian Taylor Dave Ambrose Honda Civic CRX 3h 38m 02s
9 Jon Waterhouse Russ Witty Mazda RX-7 3h 40m 56s
10 Jim Middleton Dale Payne Holden Commodore V8 3h 41m 12s

1988 Drivers and Navigators Championships

Final pointscore for 1988 is as follows.[2]

Murray Coote – Champion Driver 1988
Position Driver Car Points
1 Murray Coote Mazda 323 4WD 62
2 Greg Carr Mitsubishi Starion 52
3 David Eadie Mazda 323 4WD 35
4 Wayne Bell Mazda 323 4WD 20
5 Patrick Barber Ford Laser TX3 4WD 18
6 Mark Roach Mazda 323 4WD 15

Iain Stewart – Champion Navigator 1988
Position Navigator Car Points
1 Iain Stewart Mazda 323 4WD 62
2 Fred Gocentas Mitsubishi Starion 52
3 Chris Shearer Mazda 323 4WD 35
4 Dave Boddy Mazda 323 4WD 20
5 Simon Brown Ford Laser TX3 4WD 18
6 Mark Price Mazda 323 4WD 15

References
  1. Australian Motor Racing Year 1988/89 ISSN 0158-4138
  2. Australian Motor Racing Year 1989/90 ISSN 0158-4138
  • Results of Snowy Mountains Rally and ARC results.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.