A rather controversial opening round of the Australian Rally Championship was played out last weekend, where the right rubber for the unpredictable north-western coast around Burnie, Tasmania, would prove crucial for the ARC title.

The first round of our gravel rally championship is actually a tarmac surface, with some short blasts around super-special street stages and farmland punctuated by long, windy mountain climbs and descents. Newly extended by 5km, the 30km Savage River and Savage River reverse stage made up almost half of the rally’s competitive kilometres - and it was here, on the punishing coarse-chip mountain gravel that the real controversy began.

The debut of a new pairing is always inconsistent to begin with, and most competitors found the availability of the new Kumho control tyres with the right compound and width to be a rally-changing issue.

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