December’s Alpine Rally is shaping up to be a “don’t miss” event, with at least three leading ARC drivers set to battle it out for victory.
Jack Monkhouse's Datsun 180B is undergoing a bare shell rebuild ahead of the Alpine Rally.The bi-annual event regularly attracts a full field of over 100 cars, and this year will be no different as 2015 winners Jack Monkhouse and Dale Moscatt set out to defend their title.
With a full rebuild on his winning Datsun 180B well underway, Monkhouse will face his toughest competition yet from three drivers with even greater ARC pedigree than himself.
Heading that list will be Simon Evans, the four-time national champion who is expected to drive the Snooks Motorsport Datsun Stanza, the same car he ran in April Otago Rally in New Zealand.
Evans also drove the car to victory in the recent Rally of the Heartland in South Australia.
Ryan Smart will push for an Alpine Rally win in his new Datsun Stanza.Multiple ARC event winner, Ryan Smart, is also eyeing off the Gippsland-based event. He has built a new Datsun Stanza for his first assault on the Alpine.
Another front-runner, Brendan Reeves, was hoping to enter the event in his Datsun 1600, however, his plans to contest Rally Australia a fortnight before the Alpine look like putting an end to those hopes.
However, Reeves’ brother Nathan, a former Victorian Rally Champion, is set to do the Alpine in a Nissan Gazelle.
While the event is still over five months away, interest is already snowballing. Supp Regs for the event are expected to be sent out in the next couple of weeks.
- Peter Whitten
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
