2025 Lovells Alpine Rally of East Gippsland

The 2025 Lovells Alpine Rally of East Gippsland is certainly taking shape very quickly; the course is set, Roadbooks are written, and the Entry Nomination process should begin shortly! We are just waiting on the Supplementary Regulations to be approved by Motorsport Australia, and once we have them back, we will commence acceptance of nominations. It’s still 6 months until it all kicks off in Lakes Entrance, but that time will go very quickly!

In terms of the course, you’ll need an endurance mindset (and a decent set of Lovells suspension!) for this year’s rally! The event reverts to the traditional 3-day format, with the first day being the “traditional” stages close to Lakes Entrance, day two being based out of Orbost, and the final day set around Nowa Nowa. We haven’t been based there for a few years, but the locals are super excited to see the rally return, and are going out of their way to accommodate us. The number of stages has been cut drastically from previous years; there will be a total of 14 stages across the 3 days. But before you despair, it may be worth noting that there is over 380kms competitive in those 14 stages, so when you do the maths, you’ll figure out there are some pretty long ones! The longest is over 73 kms, but there’s several more in the 40-50km range, so patience, concentration and endurance will be critical if you’re chasing a good result.

To further underline those elements, we have designed the entire course to comfortably return to the designated service/refuel locations for each division, so there will be no “intercept” style service or refuelling allowed at all. This will be monitored, and penalties will apply for those who try to cheat the system! We want the Alpine to return to a “marathon” rather than a “sprint”, hence these changes. It should also make it easier for those with minimal service crew support to still achieve a good placing. Personally, I’m really happy with how the course has come together; the minimal transport distances, convenience for competitors, crews and officials, and most importantly, the quality of the stages. We set out to design an event that is as “user friendly” as possible, but you’ll still know you’ve completed an “Alpine” when you get to the finish! Special thanks need to go to Matt De Vaus, who has done most of the preliminary work in putting the course together; as usual I just tend to sit around pointing and shouting at things!

Supplementary Regulations have been submitted to Motorsport Australia, and once they’ve approved them, we will open the Nomination process. All competitors will need to submit a nomination to be considered for entry to the 2025 Lovells Alpine Rally of East Gippsland, which will be available on the Alpine website. From there, competitors will be invited to submit an entry on a designated date and time, and we will compile the entry list from there.

We are currently looking to use the WOLF - Working OnLine Facility entry system, which many of you will be familiar with if you compete in the ARC, State level events, or various others. It will take a little while to set up your personal profile and details to bring with, but once it’s all in place, the entry process is incredibly easy and user friendly. So, if you don’t already have a profile set up on WOLF, make sure you do before entries open, or you may miss out on the day! We will provide more details to those who are invited to enter when we send out invitations.

Lovells Automotive Systems have been incredibly generous with their support of the 2025 Lovells Alpine Rally of East Gippsland, and in addition to their financial support, are donating $20,000 worth of Lovells products, that we in turn will be donating to local community groups in the East Gippsland region. They make some amazing gear (beyond “just” suspension!); if you’re not up to date with their offerings make sure you log onto to their website and check it out! Some of their electronic equipment (power banks etc.) will be incredibly helpful to the very community groups that support the rally, so it is fantastic that we are able to give back to the people that make it possible for us to stage the event.

In addition to the support from Lovells, I’m delighted to confirm that the East Gippsland Shire are once again supporting the rally, and their enthusiasm is already overflowing! We’re planning to have the start and finish back at the Lakes Entrance foreshore this year, and they have been fantastic in facilitating this idea. I’d also like to acknowledge Braeden Kendrick from Fast Track Towing and Transport, who has come on board to sponsor the Stuart Lister Scholarship. Events this size simply cannot run without the support of sponsors, and we do have a few opportunities still available, so if you’d like to get involved, please contact me ASAP.

The entire Organising Team is working hard on preparations; all of the critical framework required to run the rally is well under construction, and we’ve already commenced our quest to find officials! We’re particularly looking for stage commanders, setup crews, and control officials at the moment, but if you’d like to assist in any capacity, please contact our Officials Manager Susan Day at officials@alpinerally.org.au.

Keep an eye out for nominations opening shortly, and we’ll continue to provide updates via the the Lovells Alpine website, the Lovells Alpine Facebook Page and HRA update. If you have any queries you can contact me at director@alpinerally.org.au.