AORC championship points after round 1 confirmed

The BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC) official point-score has been updated following completion of the Cobb & Co Hotel St George 399.

Like last year, the new AORC scoring system will once again be in effect with drivers and navigators scoring outright points for where they placed in the event, while for class points, crews will continue to be rewarded points based on where they finished for each section.

Leading the way in the outright Driver and Navigator standings respectively are event winners Josh Howells and Eric Hume after what was a dominant start-to-finish victory in Queensland.

Having won all three sections, Howells and Hume also gained a maximum 630 points in the Pro Buggy class.

Making up both the outright and pro buggy top three are Ryan Taylor and Kye Floyd in second and Shannon and Ian Rentsch in third.

Click here to view the outright standings after Round One.

As only one round has run so far in 2022, all crews are placed on the outright standings in the same position they finished in St George, whereas the classes differ due to section points.

While many of the classes have similar rankings to the outright standings, the biggest difference is in the Extreme 2WD class, which had multiple lead changes throughout the event.

Just two crews scored outright points in St George, with Brett Comiskey and Corey Cooper finishing ninth outright and Damien Nicol finishing 17th alongside Cameron Percy.

Both crews occupy the top two spots in the class standings, however not far behind them are Greg Gartner and Jamie Jennings after they led the class for much of the weekend.

In the running for an outright podium after sections one and two, the duo scored no points in the final section when they broke down 20km from the finish line.

Click here to view the AORC class standings.

In the KINCROME SXS Motorsport Australia Championship, Phil Lovett and Luke Stanley lead the way in both the outright and class standings.

Trailing them after strong finishes were Greg and Lachlan Campbell in second place and Zachary Marsh and David Ash, who rounded out the podium, while the highest placed SXS Sport crew were class winners John Wisse and navigator Chris Collins in 13th.

Click here to view the SXS Standings.

Although Lovett and Stanley enjoyed maximum points in both the outright driver and navigator standings, it’s a far closer battle in the SXS Pro class as they only won one section for the weekend.

A maximum of 630 points were on offer for the class winners, however Lovett and Stanley each only got 564 for their respective championships, with the Campbells’ section three victory helping them close the gap to just 30.

Although he failed to finish sections two and three, Jake Williams came away with some decent points after winning the first section.

As for the SXS Sports class, just 12 points separate current leaders John Wisse and Chris Collins with the second placed crew of Matt and Josh Halpin due to the see-sawing battle between the two throughout the event.

Click here to view the SXS Class points.

The next round of the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship is the newest event on the calendar, the Pooncarie Desert Dash on 5-6 May.

Photo: Terry Hill Photography