The series will be known as the Realistic Car Rentals NSW Clubman Rally Series following the signing of Realistic as naming rights sponsor.
The support of Realistic Car Rentals means the series will boast $6000 in prize money in 2011 with $1000 available at each of the six scheduled rounds and the majority of the cash going to competitors in two wheel drive cars.
2011 will also see a change to the driver eligibility designed to make it more equitable and give up and coming drivers a better chance of winning the series.
From next year the series will be open only to drivers below .91 on the NSW rally seeding list as at the date of the first event for the series and they will retain that eligibility through to the end of the series even if their seeding rises during the year.
According to NSW Rally Panel Chairman, Graham Humphreys the signing of Realistic Car Rentals is a major boost to the Clubman series and will give the grassroots of the sport a terrific financial incentive to contest the six rounds in 2011.
“There will be a minimum of $1000 on offer at each round thanks to Realistic Car Rentals and we have heavily weighted it towards the two wheel drive competitors,” said Graham.
“The new rules has also seen some re-jigging of the Clubman classes with five categories covering a broad range of cars,” he said.
The new Clubman Series classes for 2011 will be:
C1 2WD 0 - 1600 cc
C2 2WD 1601 - 2000 cc
C3 2WD 2001 - 2699
C4 2WD 2700 cc and over
C5 All 4WD eligible cars, as per 2010.
“Realistic Car Rentals sponsorship will allow us to offer each registered class winner $150 in prize money plus an additional prize of $250 for the first overall registered 2WD competitor at each round,” said Graham.
“There will be $5100 prize money available for 2WD competitors giving them the largest share of the prize purse.”
“We have listened to the competitors and re-designed the series to answer the needs of competitors with fairer classes and driver eligibility as well as better more targeted prize money,” he added.
The draft calendar for the Realistic Car Rentals NSW Clubman Rally Series in 2011 is:
Round 1 9th April Taree
Round 2 14th May Canberra
Round 3 25th June Pacific Rally Club
Round 4 24th Sept Bathurst
Round 5 15th Oct Wauchope
Round 6 29th Oct Canberra
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