On paper, the battle for the 2026 NSW Rally Championship might look straightforward.

Richie Dalton and Mac Kierans sit at the top of the standings, while much of the season-long attention has centred on their battle with Tony Sullens. But heading into this weekend’s Southwest Excavations Rally of Oberon, there is another crew that remains very much alive in the championship equation.

Josh Redhead and Ray Winwood-Smith.

The Redhead Motorsport pairing currently sits third in the outright standings on 139 points, but with competitors required to drop their two worst rounds, the championship picture becomes considerably more interesting.

With Sullens now withdrawn from Oberon due to injury, Redhead and Winwood-Smith remain mathematically capable of taking the 2026 NSW Rally Championship. It would take a big result from the pair and a difficult weekend for Dalton and Kierans, but the title is not yet decided.

Redhead Motorsport has quietly put together a strong season. After opening the year at the Rally of Bathurst, Josh and Ray produced one of their best performances at the Narooma Forest Rally, collecting 25 and 22 points across the two heats.

They continued to add strongly to their tally at the Ada River Rally, where finishes worth 22, 19 and 22 points kept them firmly in the championship hunt heading towards the final round. The exception was the Rally of the Bay, where Redhead parked the usual Mitsubishi and brought out the Datsun Stanza for a very different weekend of rallying.

While the Stanza was never going to offer the same outright potential, the decision to have some fun at Batemans Bay has ultimately done little to derail their championship campaign once the dropped-round system is taken into account.

“We’ve had a really enjoyable year and managed to put together some strong results along the way,” Redhead said.

“Narooma was particularly good for us and Ada River gave us another solid points haul. Rally of the Bay was a bit different — we took the Stanza out and just went rallying to have some fun.”

“Now we’ve got to Oberon and somehow we’re still mathematically in the fight for the Championship.”

There will be another change for the final NSW round, with Josh and Ray contesting Oberon in the team’s Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 3.

The EVO 5 is being prepared for the final round of the Australian Rally Championship at Gippsland the following weekend, while Josh has also been working on the Hyundai G4 ahead of its Adelaide Grand Final appearance.

It has made for a hectic end to the season, but Redhead says his attention will be firmly on Oberon once the helmet goes on.

“We know Richie and Mac are in the box seat and they would need to have a pretty rough weekend for us to get past them,” Redhead said.

“But rallying is rallying. We’re still in it, so all we can do is go out there, push for the best result we can and see what happens.”

“The EVO 3 is a car we know well and it’s great fun to drive, so there’s really nothing for us to lose.”

The Southwest Excavations Rally of Oberon will bring the 2026 Rally NSW season to a close on Saturday, 14 November, with approximately 125 kilometres of competition through the Jenolan forests.

Dalton and Kierans remain the clear favourites to secure the title.

But after a season of strong results, a Stanza cameo at Batemans Bay and plenty of variety along the way, Redhead and Winwood-Smith arrive at Oberon with one final opportunity to upset the expected result.

The championship mathematics may favour Dalton. But the fight isn’t over yet.