Rally Australia Returns to Coffs Coast in 2014

The Coffs Coast has again been selected to host a round of the FIA World Rally Championship in 2014, Minister for Tourism and Major Events, George Souris, and Member for Coffs Harbour, Andrew Fraser, have announced.

This follows the success of the 2013 event on the Coffs Coast earlier this month.

“The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has confirmed that this prestigious international motor sport event will be held in and around Coffs Harbour next year, which is great news for regional NSW,” Mr Souris said.

“The 2014 event will build on the success of this year’s event, which was estimated to attract more than 13,000 visitors to the Coffs Coast, generating more than 64,000 visitor nights and injecting around $9 million in visitor expenditure into the local economy.”

Mr Souris said adding the World Rally Championship to recently secured events such as the Sydney 500 Grand Finale at Sydney Olympic Park and the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Sydney Motorsport Park, together with the Bathurst 1000, confirms NSW as the headquarters of motorsports in Australia.

Coffs Harbour MP Andrew Fraser said that securing the Rally Australia event, which will have a global television audience, would not only benefit the local area but would have flow-on effects for the State economy.

“Rally Australia features some of the world’s best rally drivers as they attempt to conquer the challenging courses through some of the State’s most spectacular and rugged countryside.

“This is another great example of how the NSW Government is working toward achieving the target of doubling overnight visitor expenditure in the State by 2020 and doing so by securing major events for regional areas,” Mr Fraser said.

CEO of Destination NSW, Sandra Chipchase, said: “This event will take Coffs Harbour to the world as it will be watched by an estimated cumulative international television audience of more than 50 million viewers”.

Rally Australia Chairman, Ben Rainsford, said: “We are grateful for the support of the State Government, which will ensure NSW and the Coffs Coast region are the focus of attention from all over the world by followers of the toughest motorsport championship there is.

“We are pleased to have been selected by the FIA World Motor Sport Council for the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship series that also visits 12 other countries.”