The 2026 MSS Safety Rally Barossa this year was run as a single day rally on Saturday 29/08/2026. The South Australian Rally Championship round incorporated 7 daytime stages including the iconic Trial Hill-High Eden (call High Trial and the long stage of the event at 26.1km) as the 1st stage and later as the first of the night stages, and the Allendale Road-Goldfields Road-Green Gully Road (called Green and Gold this year, at 13.1km) and 3 night stages. In the past there have been nights stages on the day preceding the daytime stages. The stages used were located around the Williamstown-Mt Pleasant-Springton area with the last stage run just east of Angaston. Rally headquarters this year was at the Angaston Oval.
There was a highly anticipated battle between multiple South Australian Championship winner Declan Dwyer teamed up with daughter Zoe in the navigator’s seat (in their trusty 1998 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI) and fan favourite Toby Price and well-known interstate navigator Ben Searcy. Glenn Brinkman had donated a 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer to Toby to use for this event. Glenn himself would be steering his immaculate Martini liveried 1994 Ford Escort Cosworth RS to get amongst the Dwyer-Price showdown. Last year’s South Australian Championship winner, Michael Mohr and Casey Mohr were also in the mix in their 2004 Subaru Impreza RS. There was no shortage of Subarus represented (7), including the 1995 Subaru WRX hatch of Michael Chora and Rachael Ferrante for something a bit different and 4 Fords for the Ford fans. The invitational 2004 Fiat Stilo Trofeo Abarth of Roger Buratto would be a non-starter. Brett and Rebecca Baldwin had made the switch from their trusty old Datsun to a 2005 Subaru WRX and the change from 2WD to 4WD would be interesting. Steven and Jeremy Zimmermann had entered a 2025 Toyota Yaris GR but weren’t expecting too much as they learned the car’s capabilities and will be one to watch in the future. Sixteen SARC class cars would start the event. The 2024 Rally Barossa event winner in his big yellow Mitsubishi Magna “taxi” Guy Tyler had chosen to sit out this event, in favour of the 5 day Flinders to Fleurieu event, which unfortunately ended up being postponed due to severely flood damaged roads. The Regulatory class had 5 entrants, headed by the Regularity Plus 2011 Subaru WRX of Anthony Dally and Kel Mocilnik and the experienced and successful combination of Stephen Barker and Mandy Rudham in the 1997 Toyota Hi Lux ute. Trying their hand at Regularity this year were two Army Mercedes G Wagons.
The Rally Barossa has not been a happy hunting ground for Toby Price, and this year he was unable to complete a single stage. Driving off the ceremonial starting ramp the car’s electricity kept dropping, starving the fuel pumps, and while trying to figure out the issue, suddenly the fire protection bomb went off inside the car, all by itself, with both driver and co-driver adamant they didn’t touch the trip button for it. So now it would be case of who could keep up with the very experienced Declan Dwyer!
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Dwyer would set the tone right from the start, setting a blistering time in his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO on the opening stage, while it appeared the others were being more careful with a full days of rallying to come. Dwyer’s time was 39secs faster than 2nd fastest on the stage Mohr in the Subaru. Brinkman was 11 secs behind Mohr for 3rd fastest. With the longest stage of the rally out of the way Dwyer could now settle into a rhythm and protect that massive lead. Stage 2 Pleasant Boundary near Mt Pleasant netted another 9secs over 2nd fastest Brinkman in his Ford Escort Cossie. Bradley Clements (son of Michael Clements) in a Subaru WRX would be 3rd fastest.
Next up was the iconic Green and Gold (or Goldfields stage in previous rallies), a favourite of many drivers starting near Gawler and climbing to open roads on ridgetop before descending to the spectator area at a hairpin corner and before climbing back up a long hill to the end of the stage near the South Para Reservoir and Williamstown. 
Dwyer would add another 9secs to his overall lead, again beating Clements, who was obviously comfortable in his Subaru now, and Mohr 4secs behind Clements. Dwyer’s overall lead was now out to 1min and 5secs over Mohr and Brinkman 13secs further back. The last of the stages to be run for the first time was the McBeans stage, south west of Springton, which included a dedicated spectator corner. No real surprise here, with Dwyer being 8secs faster than the rest of the field. Brinkman would just eclipse Clements for 2nd fastest on the stage, and the overall 2nd fastest time. Clements impressed and was holding onto 3rd overall, with Rob Hunt and living legend Jeremy Browne in 4th overall in their Mitsubishi X. In 5th overall was the invitational Subaru RS (the black one) of Cary and Russell Seabrook. The Subaru WRX hatch of Michael Chora was 6th overall, picking up many 6th fastest stages times. Michael and Casey Mohr had to complete the stage with no brakes, dropping a minute and a half to the front runners and would also nearly split a wheel rim.
The repeat of Green and Gold resulting in Dwyer taking another stage win, this time by 8secs over Clements and 10 secs over Mohr. Would Dwyer get a clean sweep of all stages, that remained to be seen but it certainly looked promising. 
Pleasant Boundary as SS6 was next in the mid afternoon and some of the soft edges could catch out a few if they drifted wide or tried to cut a corner to shave off time. Finally someone got the measure of Dwyer and it would only be by one sec! Clements had finally done it and the ole girl Subaru hung in there and surprised many. Brinkman was just a few seconds further back and it was arguably one of the closest stages with only 7secs separating 1st to 4th fastest. The 2nd run through McBeans would be the last day time stage with the sun starting to get low and creating a challenge with sun glare, before the crews headed back to Angaston Oval to fit spotlights for the night stages. Dwyer was back to winning stage times again, beating Clements by 3secs over Clements, with Brinkman a further 4 secs further back and Mohr a second behind him. Overall placings hadn’t changed for many stages now as the drivers settled in. Dwyer now held a commanding 1min 41sec gap heading into the night stages. Brinkman was 20secs behind Clements and Mohr a min and 3secs further back. Hunt held 5th place and the Subaru hatch of Chora still in 6th.
The big test would be who could hold their nerve on the long High Trial stage, first of the night stages. Dwyer would beat the field by 17secs, with Clements well and truly in 2nd place overall now thanks to a healthy time 42secs faster than Mohr. This stage would see the demise of Brinkman somewhere in the latter half of the stage with the Ford Escort Cossie having gearbox problems. Also out of the event would be Neil Jameson and Craig Beard when their Ford Escort would go off the road and roll in the second half of the stage. The crews behind them would be given an adjusted time. 
A new short stage, the penultimate stage of the event, Mossy Pine beckoned. The stage was located just south east of Eden Valley township amongst rock outcrops and ending with a narrow bridge. Despite being short, Dwyer managed to be 6secs faster than Clements and 7secs faster Mohr, with Cary and Russell Seabrook (2004 Subaru Impreza RS) having a good run with another 4th fastest stage time. So onto the final stage, Corner Stone with its longer straights and dedicated spectator corner at Lindsay Park Road near Angaston. Declan Dwyer and Zoe Dwyer would squeeze out another 7sec gap to the chasing pack to finish the event winning all but one stage, and that was only slower by 1 second. The final winning time for the Dwyers in their 1998 Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VI of 1:06:47 would be just over 2mins ahead of 2nd overall from Bradley Clements and Naomi Povey. This was an amazing feat as the orange “old girl” 1994 Subaru WRX had to borrow the gearbox and several other major bits from Michael Clements blue Subaru WRX just before the event and had been a race against time to get it done. Third overall was Michael and Casey Mohr (2004 Subaru Impreza RS), last year’s SARC winners, a bit over 2mins behind Clements. 
If they hadn’t encountered the brake issues early on the 2nd spot, and Glenn Brinkman’s Ford Escort “Cossie” hadn’t developed gearbox problems it would have been a real close affair for that 2nd spot on the podium. Fourth overall was Rob Hunt and Jeremy Browne (2008 Mitsubishi EVO X) having a consistent run of 4th and 5th fastest stage times. Fifth was the black Subaru Impreza RS of Cary and Russell Seabrook, and rounding out the top 6 was the 1995 Subaru WRX hatch of Michael Chora and Rachael Ferrante from NSW, consistently collecting many 6th fastest stage times.
Winners of the Regularity Category saw Stephen Barker and Mandy Rudham (Toyota Hilux ute) return to the top of the podium, over last year’s winners Anthony Dally and Kel Mocilnik (2011 Subaru WRX).
