Repco Rally Australia latest
Big news from last week is that the legal injunction action, brought on by local interests claiming environmental interests, was rejected by the Federal court, who said the claim was without merita... The local campaigners against the Repco Rally Australia may have been overruled by the courts, but now the Police are involved. The local branch of the Police Association plan to make a demonstration against insufficient staffing levels and wage complaints at the event instead.

Citroen’s hope for a change in fortunes. The last four rallies without wins have been the longest stretch without a victory by Sebastien Loeb since 2004 ...

Ford come with a winning team! Hirvonen drives his Finland winning car, Latvala the car used by Hirvonen when he won Acropolis and Poland. ...

The organisers have resurrected the cancelled entry for Cody Crocker, now that a replacement Subaru has been found ...

Following an experiment in Argentina, the FIA has allowed extra "Guest" entries in the PCWRC category for this event. This provides the additional service park facilities afforded to regular PCWRC drivers, but only the cars carrying numbers 59 and 60 (Bates and Crocker) are entitled to score PCWRC championship points....

Brendan Reeves is definitely out of the rally. He has been advised not to compete, and indeed is reported not yet to have driven a car since his South Australia crash. This presumable means the end of his Pirelli Star Driver aspirations for this year.

Petter the Joker
On going to press, Petter Solberg holds the joker card and Citroen and Ford are anxiously waiting to see how he plays his hand in negotiation elating to the entries for Catalunya and Rally GB. He has been offered, what a team insider has confirmed is a "most attractive offer" from both Citroen and Ford, for a car to run in both events, both teams having the same objective. They each want Petter to score a high position on these rallies, hopefully beating the leading driver of the other team and thereby enhancing the championship position of their own top driver. Petter is using this commercial moment to discuss what either team can offer him for the 2010 season. The team source added: "Petter is not negotiating for the last two rallies in the 2009 season, he is negotiating for 15 rallies." M-Sport’s Malcolm Wilson would not comment on the situation, beyond that of saying the whole affair is a ‘commercial matter’. A Citroen Racing spokesman confirmed they were in discussions "with Petter Solberg about different options for Spain, Rally GB and for the next season". Neither Ford nor Citroen have a wish to relegate either of their number two drivers to non-manufacturers’ championship points scoring status, the whole matter revolves around the race for the 2009 FIA Drivers title

Rally NZ Returns to Auckland
The 2010 Rally of New Zealand is to return to a base in the country’s largest city Auckland, in compliance to the world championship’s declared preference for contact with large centres of population. The event was last seen in Auckland in 2005, since when it has been based at the much smaller town Hamilton, which is more convenient for access to suitable special stages. There was a three year agreement with Hamilton, enabling the event to be based at the Mystery Creek leisure centre, at which a superspecial stage was run right around the headquarter building. It was at this location that the 2007 event was decided, won by Marcus Gronholm who beat Sebastien Loeb by a margin of 0.3 seconds after a three day rally. The return to Auckland means that stages both north as well as south of Auckland can be used, but at the inevitable cost of longer road sections. The agreement with Auckland authorities covers the next three occasions that the rally is run. The rally has already qualified for the world championship no fewer than 30 times, on each occasion except for 1980 it has been held in the country’s North Island.

3mmm