Having secured state and local government support, motorsport event promoter Auto Corsa Group has opened entries for a new one-day, multi-stage closed tarmac rally in Tasmania’s Huon Valley.
The inaugural Huon Valley Auto Corsa tarmac rally will be held on Saturday, February 27 2016 with cars being flagged off from The Apple Shed in Grove.
The course will comprise 100 competitive kilometres over seven technical special stages taking in Grove, Huonville, Franklin, Geeveston and Dover.
An expected competition field of up to 75 modern and classic rally cars will leave The Apple Shed at approximately 1.00pm and compete until twilight hours. Official finish celebrations are set to kick off at around 7.30pm in Huonville.
Event Director, Stuart Benson, said that the one-day tarmac rally will take in some of the Huon’s most stunning roads, including the Huon Highway between Surges Bay and Dover, the Esperance Coast Road and the popular Arve Road tourist route to the Tahune Airwalk.
“We’re very excited about this new one-day tarmac rally concept,” he said. “By listening to our client base we have designed a compact and easily accessible event that suits increasingly busy work schedules.”
“By focusing on a small number of longer distance closed road stages, we’ve been able to develop a challenging and value for money event for entrants that is also designed to simulate visitation and drive positive economic return for the community.”
Mr Benson said the competition field would stop at Geeveston, Dover and Huonville, giving the local community the opportunity to see the cars and meet the crews.
Winner of the final Targa Wrest Point in 2014, Hobart’s Matt Rickards, has already signed up for the inaugural staging in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.
“This new event is really exciting” he said. “The one day-format makes things really easy for us local rally guys and I really love the Arve Road into Tahune – so that’s going to be pretty great.”
Huon Valley Auto Corsa is facilitated through support from the Huon Valley Council, Forestry Tasmania, The Apple Shed and the Government of Tasmania through the Department of State Growth.
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