Some of the photos from Day 1 of the 2021 Shannons Adelaide Rally.  The rally is a 4 day event run in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia.  The rally comprises competition classes (Competition, Challenge), Spirit class and touring categories.  Within those competition categories are subcategories of Modern and Classic.  This year’s event introduced some new stages as well as revisiting ones ran many years ago (in Classic Adelaide Rally days).

On Thursday, in the main Competition Class, the Dodge Viper ACR of Tasmanian duo Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey was the one to beat on Day 1, winning the day by just two seconds from the 2020 runners-up Jeff Morton and Daymon Nicoli in their Porsche 911 GT2 RS, although they briefly held the lead after SS4.  Maguire would win every stage but one.  Angus Kennard and Ian Wheeler (Nissan GTR R35) were consistent and would finish in third at the end of the day.  Defending champion Ben Calder had changed cars for this year’s event with his Audi TTRS+ finishing in 4th.  In Classic Competition, ex-South Australian Jack Monkhouse (and navigator Chloe Bojko) knew the roads well so was able to put his Datsun 180B SSS ahead of closest rivals Andrew Booker and Neil Branum in the Nissan DR30 Skyline by a minute, with Tom Dermody’s red Mk1 Escort just behind.

Modern Challenge category was tight, with Ben Auld/Lucy Barker (Porsche 997.2 GT3 CS), Geoffrey Olholm/Matthew Sanders (Toyota Supra GTS) and Robert Bryden/Alex Bryden (Lotus Exige) all within a minute of each other.  In Classic Challenge, last year’s runner-up William Coulter (and Andrew Colliver) in a Toyota Sprinter AE86 won the first four stages.  Dean Cook/Simon Richards (Ford Escort Mk1) and Bill Lakstins/Anthony Wood (BMW E30) and last year’s winner Lachlan Cox/Sam Martin (Ford Escort Mk1) were in 2nd to 4th places respectively.

SS2 Tanahmerah

SS4 Morialta 1

SS7 Ironbank