NSW Rally Championship – A Shortened Season, A Big Battle Ahead

By John McCredie

The 2025 Shamrock Haulage NSW Rally Championship has taken some unexpected twists, and as we head into the final two rounds, the fight for the title looks more intriguing than ever. With the Lazer Rally of the Bay cancelled due to wet weather, the championship has effectively become a four-round sprint, and only two of those rallies are left to decide who will be crowned champion. Who will win the 2025 NSW Rally Championship? Let’s look at the story so far…

Who’s Out of Contention

The story of this year’s championship isn’t just about who’s at the top of the leaderboard — it’s about who isn’t in the mix.

Round 1 winner Josh Wiedman was sensational in Canberra, but his season started and ended there. Without returning for more rounds, that victory is little more than an interesting footnote in the bigger championship picture.

Reigning NSW Rally Champion Josh Redhead sits all the way down in 11th outright this season with just 50 points. To win, he’d need to take victory at both Narooma and Coffs Harbour and hope for disaster to strike the leaders. It’s possible, but the odds are heavily stacked against him and with other events in his sights, it’s unlikely we’ll see him entered.

Andrew Penny started off well at Canberra and has been a consistent performer in the past, but there’s little incentive for him to continue this year, and he’s unlikely to play a role in the outcome.

Richie Dalton, a previous Rally of the Bay winner and series sponsor with Shamrock Haulage, will be in Ireland when Narooma is taking place and his car will be in the hands of Taylor Gill.  Dalton will be back in Australia in time for Coffs Harbour, but word is he won’t compete. His Toyota GR Yaris AP4 is quick enough to win, but his focus will be on his sponsor commitments rather than chasing points.

The Contenders

That leaves us with the real players in the 2025 title fight. Let’s check them out and how many points they have so far this season.

Tony Sullens (Citroën DS3, 110 points)
Sullens has built his campaign on consistency rather than outright speed. He’s a multiple state champion, and his ability to put the Citroën in the right place at the right time has given him the championship lead. He’s also heavily invested in the series as his business supplies MRF Tyres, another key series sponsor, so there’s no doubt he’ll be at both Narooma and Coffs. For Sullens, this is a golden opportunity to add yet another NSWRC crown to his collection.

Jody Mill (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, 102 points)
He’s just eight points behind Sullens, so that makes Mill the dark horse in this year’s battle. His Evo, which he famously won as a prize in an AMSAG competition a few years back, has proven to be both reliable and fast. If he shows up for both remaining rallies, he has every chance of taking the fight to Sullens right to the wire.

Nathan Quinn (Mazda RX2, 69 points)
Perhaps the most fascinating contender is Quinn. Driving a 50-year-old Mazda RX2, he stunned everyone at Bega by grabbing maximum NSWRC points in a car that has no right, on paper, to be mixing it with modern machinery. Quinn’s home event is Coffs Harbour, so we can be sure he’ll be there. If he also makes the trip down to Narooma, then things get very interesting indeed. Two strong results could easily see him leapfrog into championship-winning territory.

Lachlan Moore (77 points)
Moore is an outside chance. He’s shown flashes of speed and sits in third place, but he’d need perfect runs at Narooma and Coffs combined with trouble for the leaders. Stranger things have happened, but it’s a long shot.

The Likely Scenarios

So, how could it play out? Who will win the 2025 NSW Rally Championship?

• If Sullens continues his consistent approach, top-three finishes at both Narooma and Coffs will almost certainly be enough to secure him the title.

• Mill has the pace and the points gap is small and if he can outperform Sullens in both rallies, the championship could swing his way.

• Quinn is the wildcard. If he does both events and wins one or even both, he could completely rewrite the script. His RX2 may be old, but his speed and flair are undeniable.

• For Moore, he needs to win both events in the same way that Quinn needs to. He’s a new comer to the championship and is yet to show the consistency needed to take the wins at both rallies.  It would take a collapse from the others for him to climb to the top step.

A Season Like No Other

The cancellation of the Rally of the Bay means this year’s NSWRC will go down as one of the more interesting in recent history. With only two rallies left, every kilometre will count, and every mistake could be championship defining.

It’s rare to see a season where a modern Citroën DS3, a Mitsubishi Evo prize car, and a half-century-old Mazda RX2 are all genuine contenders for the state title. That mix is what makes rallying in New South Wales so compelling, and it’s as much about heart and determination as it is about horsepower.

Another wrinkle in this year’s championship is the drop-worst-heats rule. Under the competition conditions, if more than eight heats are run across the season, each competitor can drop their two lowest scores. That means if Narooma and Coffs Harbour both go ahead, we’ll finish with either 10 heats (if Coffs runs two heats) or 11 heats (if it runs three). In either case, only a competitor’s best eight or nine heats will count.

This could completely reshape the points picture. For someone like Tony Sullens, who has scored consistently well in every heat so far, the rule doesn’t offer much room for improvement as his tally is already solid, so dropping two heats won’t boost him much. But for others like Nathan Quinn and Lachlan Moore, who have missed heats or had patchy results, the rule could be a lifeline. Two strong performances at Narooma and Coffs would allow them to replace weaker scores, instantly putting them back in the hunt.

In short, the drop-worst-heats rule could turn what looks like a comfortable lead for Sullens into a genuine three, or even four-way fight. It’s exactly the kind of twist that keeps this championship unpredictable right to the very end.

Of course, all of this depends on individual performances at both Narooma and Coffs. If Nathan Quinn were to win both rallies in his classic Mazda RX2, he’d leap up to around 169 points, firmly in contention. Likewise, Lachlan Moore would rise to about 177 points with two perfect runs. But if Tony Sullens simply banks consistent second places, he’d still finish with around 190 points, likely enough to secure the crown.

The real danger for Sullens comes from Jody Mill. If Mill were to win both rallies, his Mitsubishi Evo would propel him to around 202 points, enough to snatch the championship. Even Josh Redhead, despite being way back on 50 points, could mathematically finish near 150 points with two wins, but he’d also need the current leaders to falter badly.

What this shows is that while Sullens holds the advantage, the title fight is far from over. The drop-worst-heats rule, combined with the high stakes of the final two rallies, means that Mill, Quinn, and even Moore all still have pathways to the championship if things fall their way.

Come October, we’ll know whether Sullens has added another title to his name, whether Mill’s Evo has carried him to glory, or whether Quinn or Moore has pulled off one of the great underdog stories in NSW rally history.