ARC manufacturer support present in various ways
- 23rd October 2023, 7:25am
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by Luke Whitten
- Photos by Wishart Media
Speaking on RallySport Magazine’s free Special Stage podcast, Adrian Coppin explained how the national championship is getting manufacturer support in varying ways.
While he says that the next manufacturer to join the series is still a ‘work in progress’, he has an open line to the five manufacturers supporting the series currently.
Toyota, Subaru, Skoda, Mitsubishi and Hyundai all appear on Australian Rally Championship communication and are behind the series in some way, shape, or form, but their investment levels and suitability to support a factory team in the series differ.
“They’re all invested in varying ways,” Coppin, the series manager said.
“I’ve had conversations with all of those that you’ve listed and they’re all very interested and we obviously keep them up to date.
“Some of them have been speaking to some teams and it’s obviously all those brands you’ve spoken about that are represented in the championship one way or another.”
Coppin, whilst trying to grow the series from a regular competitor base, is also trying to grow the sport in a commercial sense.
Often they go hand in hand.
“That’s what I’m trying to do – show how relevant and amazing the ARC can be and get their interest to jump in,” he added.
“You’ve only got to look at things that Supercars does, there’s brands represented at Supercars that aren’t participating in Supercars but use it as a very good marketing platform.
“That’s all the things that we’re trying to do at the moment with the ARC.”
Of those currently supporting the championship, each has an avenue to compete or support teams in the championship.
Skoda and Hyundai have their world-class Rally2 cars that are eligible to compete in the series, while a fast Mitsubishi Mirage G4 is being developed by the Activ Rallysport team.
Manufacturer backing for any of those cars would all but guarantee stage and rally wins as soon as 2024.
Toyota and Subaru will likely remain in the series next year with their respective factory team and one-make series efforts, and an addition of more manufacturers could elevate the series to heights it has not seen for some time.
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