Round 7 of the FIA Production car World Rally Championship (P-WRC), Rally Australia (Round 10 of the FIA WRC) took place from Thursday, September 3rd to Sunday, September 6th in the eastern Australian Gold Coast region. The two Southern hemisphere-born drivers in Subaru Impreza WRX STIs took 2nd and 3rd places overall. The mid-winter Australian weather was erratic, with the first half of the competition mired in rain, but the final day was blessed with clear skies and sunshine. The completely new course was of predominantly narrow gravel roads with high average speeds.

Among the Subaru drivers, New Zealand Rally Champion Richard Mason (New Zealand) finished in 2nd place. Mason, in a 2007 Impreza WRX STI, took a total of eight stage wins throughout the weekend. On the first day he initially took a back seat to the S2000 group, but they had trouble with the wet road surfaces so Mason seized the top position. On the 2nd day he lost the title of race leader, and afterwards became embroiled in a fierce battle with Martin Prokop for the top spot. Though he wasn’t able to pull off a come-from-behind win, Mason’s fierce driving left a big impression.
Former Australian Champion and 3-time Asia Pacific Rally Champion Cody Crocker (Australia) ran a steady race throughout the weekend to finish in 3rd place.

Two-time P-WRC world champion, Japan’s Toshihiro Arai got off to a slow start in the first half of the opening day, ending the leg with a time loss of over 1 minute. Starting the second day in 7th place he managed to move all the way up to 4th. He held onto that position up until the final SS of the last day, the event’s longest stage. However, just before the finish line he encountered a mechanical problem. He had to stop on the stage and was forced to retire. Arai said, “It is really unfortunate to have had to retire on the very last stage. Up until that point the car was really going very well. Throughout the weekend things had been continually getting better, and the set-up on the car this morning was perfect.”