The opening three rounds of the 2021 RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Championship have been confirmed by Motorsport Australia.

Canberra’s Netier National Capital Rally is set to host the opening event of the season on March 20-21 before competitors heads across the country to Western Australia’s Make Smoking History Forest Rally on the first weekend in May. Rally Tasmania is locked in for the third round on June 26-27.

Preceding the season is the official test and launch, which will be held in Ballarat on February 14.

“It’s fair to say we all wanted more rally action in 2020, but with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this hasn’t been possible,” said Motorsport Australia Director of Motorsport and Commercial Operations, Mike Smith.

“With this in mind, we wanted to announce our 2021 calendar as soon as possible and we’ve worked closely with our respective event organisers to make this possible and they have been terrific.

“This early announcement will allow all competitors plenty of time to prepare their cars and lock away their rallying plans for the first half of 2021.”

The announcement comes after the 2020 Australian Rally Championship was abandoned as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

It was replaced with two separate Cup competitions aimed at state and national level competitors.

While there are no guarantees the situation will have returned to normal by the time the 2021 season begins, organisers hope restrictions will continue to ease and state borders reopen before the end of 2020.

“We know the COVID-19 pandemic won’t disappear overnight, and we will continue to constantly monitor the border situation and any local restrictions to make sure our events can run safely and welcome as many competitors as possible,” Smith said.

“2020 has been a difficult one for everyone, but it is worth acknowledging that both RSEA Safety & Hire and Hoosier Tires have been terrific in their support of our efforts to deliver events both in 2020 and into the future.”

Three further rounds are set to be announced at a later date, taking the 2021 ARC up to a total of six events.

2021 RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship Calendar
Pre-season test and launch day: Ballarat, Victoria, 16 February, 2021
Round 1: Netier National Capital Rally, Canberra, 20-21 March, 2021
Round 2: Make Smoking History Forest Rally, WA, 1-2 May, 2021
Round 3: Rally Tasmania, Launceston, 26-27 June, 2021