WRC Rally Australia:Day Two

By Colin Smith

 

An unusual itinerary faces the crews on day two of action at WRC Rally Australia being staged at Coffs Harbour this weekend.

Crews will be on the road for almost 11 hours today, but will only compete in four special stages.

The major challenge for the day is the signature stage of Rally Australia – the Nambucca stage which at 50.80km has been extended by almost two kilometres this year.

Used twice today, the Nambucca stage to the south of Coffs Harbour represents almost one-third of the competitive driving on the 2015 Rally Australia itinerary.

There’s no opportunity for a short Saturday warm-up as Nambucca is the first stage on the agenda. The first car departs the Coffs Harbour service park at 8.40am local time (10.40am NZ) and after a 61km liaison section Nambucca 1 starts at 12.18pm (NZ).

The other stage used today is the 7.94km Valla sprint. The first run is being screened live on SkySport3 in New Zealand between 2pm-3pm.

Following a 30-minute service back at Coffs Harbour there is the second run through Nambucca at 5.41pm (NZ) followed by an innovation for the 2015 edition of Rally Australia.

The second running of Valla 2 provides some after-dark Saturday night action. It’s a 6.10pm (local) and 8.10pm (NZ) start time and crews will begin arriving back at the Coffs Harbour service park from 9.30pm (NZ).

Although there are just four stages today the competitive distance of 117.48km is only slightly less than Friday’s eight stage route.

Rally resources:

www.wrc.com for live results, split times and commentary on World Rally Radio.

 www.rallyaustralia.com.au for event information.

Live TV coverage: SkySport3 Saturday 2pm-3pm Stage 10; Sunday 11am-12pm Stage 14; Sunday 3pm-4pm Stage 17 Power Stage.