The 2024 BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC) will make its return this weekend with the Loveday 400, with plenty to look forward to.
Ahead of the weekend’s proceedings, we look back at the last time we were at the Loveday 4×4 Adventure Park in South Australia.
In 2023 Loveday 400 served as the fourth round of the AORC, the event was nothing short of thrilling as the eventual championship-decider.
The points differential heading into last year’s event meant Travis Robinson and navigator Andrew Pinto had the chance to lock up 2023 Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship at Loveday, despite the remaining round to follow.
The weekend posed challenges for all top contenders as Robinson and Pinto secured a fourth place outright, while their main competitor, Mel Brandle, managed to finish in sixth.
It was nine-time AORC Champions Shannon and Ian Rentsch who claimed the outright victory in 2023, marking their first AORC victory since the 2019 St George 399 – their total time four hours and 18 minutes.
The Pro Buggy driver led the race from start to finish across the weekend, building on his four-minute lead after Saturday to comfortably beat Tom Owen and co-driver Damon Bennett by almost six minutes.
The battle for second place was one of the weekend’s highlights, the Victorian narrowly beating the 2019 AORC runner-up Roydn Bailey and navigator Dean Ellbourn.
History repeated itself Sunday with Rentsch, Owen and Bailey finishing in consistent form to round out the podium.
Despite facing multiple mechanical issues, Travis Robinson and Andrew Pinto finished fourth outright, ahead of Prolite winners Alan Dixon and Zachary O’Bree.
With only 55 seconds separating Dixon and sixth-placed Brandle, Robinson cemented himself as the champion of the 2023 Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship with no other driver able to close the points differential.
With the AORC title decided, attention turned to the SXS Motorsport Australia Championship race for the title – where some crews seemed to struggle to keep a seamless run on the South Australian course.
SXS Pro drivers Lachlan Bailey and Nathan Sracek finished in seventh place, edging out Greg and Lachlan Campbell who finished 16 minutes behind them.
Finishing more than two minutes ahead of Glenn Brinkman and Dale Moscatt, was another SXS Pro driver Graham and Aaron Colbran who completed the top 10, respectively.
The 2024 Loveday 400 serves as the third round of the AORC season and takes place in Loveday, South Australia on 26-28 July.
