Snowy River Sprint

About the Snowy River Sprint

The Snowy River Sprint is a two-day tarmac rally run on sealed public roads through the Snowy River region of East Gippsland, Victoria. Organised by Australian Tarmac Rally (ATR), the 2026 event was held on 12-13 September as Round 3 of a four-round Australian Tarmac Rally Championship, based out of the town of Buchan with documentation at Lakes Entrance. It was scheduled for 18 stages and more than 260 competitive kilometres; in the end 16 stages counted for 217.87 km — SS1 was a shakedown, and SS17 was cancelled after an accident on the stage, so no times were recorded for it. Jason and Fiona Wright won outright in their Nissan R35 by 3m01.9s, from 30 starters of whom 17 were classified. The rally has run for over 13 years, and since 2025 has started directly on Main Street Buchan — a change ATR made, in the words of Event Director Brittany Wilson, to "give back" to the town that hosts it. Categories range from a non-competitive Tour class through Rally Challenge, Rally Sport and Full Competition.

Championship

Australian Tarmac Rally Championship — Round 3 (2026 season)

Organiser

Australian Tarmac Rally (ATR)

Base

Buchan

Surface

Tarmac

The route & format

• Format: Scheduled as 18 stages and 260+ km; 16 stages were classified for 217.87 km. Stages ran as short repeated loops on Saturday — Stony Creek Spur, Sandy Point, Painted Line Track, Jonkers and Kingsley, 8-16 km each — before Sunday's long tests, the 20.03 km and 19.46 km pair and the 36.88 km Painted Line Track to Buchan CFA finale.
• Terrain: Winding, fast-flowing sealed roads through the Snowy River region's mountain/river country.

Snowy River Sprint 2026 results

• 2026 result: Jason and Fiona Wright (Nissan R35) won outright in 1:48:51.2, 3m01.9s clear of Michael Harding and James Thornburn (Subaru WRX STI), with Mark Griffith and Neill Woolley (Mercedes AMG GTR) third a further 15.1s back. Justin Waterhouse and Adrian Bryant (Mitsubishi Evo X) took Class 5 and fourth outright. Harding led on stage times for most of Saturday but lost more than two minutes on SS12 and SS15; Griffith won both of the final two stages.

Where spectators watched

Free — ATR has never ticketed the Snowy River Sprint and publishes no admission price for 2026. There are no official on-stage spectator points, so the realistic plan is Buchan township itself: the start and the service park, both open to the public. Buchan-Orbost Road is closed to all traffic 07:00-17:30 on both days, so be in position before 07:00 or stay in town. The stage roads — Stony Creek Spur, Jonkers Road, Sandy Point Track, Painted Line Track and Kingsley — sit inside that closure and shouldn't be treated as accessible.

Spectator points

• Main Street, Buchan — the start

  The rally starts in the middle of town, with the first car away at 08:30 both days. Park in town and walk. In 2025 crews also returned to Main Street for a midday lunch halt, but ATR hasn't confirmed that for 2026, so treat the midday return as likely rather than published.

• Service park, Buchan-Orbost Road

  The Buchan football oval and recreation reserve on Buchan-Orbost Road is service park and rally HQ for 2026 — the closest legal look at the cars, with crews servicing between stages across both days. Public access has been free and unrestricted in past years.

• Buchan CFA stage start, edge of town

  Six of the 18 stages start or finish at the Buchan CFA, two on Saturday and four on Sunday, with the first Sunday car through from 09:00. Reachable on foot from the township — the road itself is closed from 07:00.

• Buchan Caves Hotel — presentations

  Sunday from about 16:30, free, in the pub in the middle of town, and the easiest place to meet crews. The supplementary regulations give the window as 16:00-17:00.

How 2026 ran

1. Friday 11 September 2026

   12:00-16:00 documentation and scrutineering at Bellevue on Lakes, Lakes Entrance — note that's 45 minutes from Buchan, not in town. 17:00 compulsory event briefing, 17:30 first-timers' briefing.

2. Saturday 12 September 2026

   Buchan-Orbost Road closed to the public 07:00-17:30. First car out of Buchan 08:30, a 7.01 km shakedown at 09:00, then eleven stages through Stony Creek, Jonkers Road, Sandy Point Track, Painted Line Track, Kingsley and the Buchan CFA for about 116 km of competition. Road reopens 17:30.

3. Sunday 13 September 2026

   Road closed again 07:00-17:30, first car away 08:30, opening with the 15.68 km Buchan CFA to Stony Creek Spur at 09:00. The long ones come today — 37.13 km and 36.88 km back to back — for roughly 145 km. Presentations at the Buchan Caves Hotel from 16:30.

Access, timings and prices checked 30 August 2026. Organisers move spectator points and road closures at short notice — confirm on the official event page before you travel.

Getting there & staying

• Getting there: Buchan is about 350-360 km east of Melbourne, roughly 4.5 hours via the Princes Highway to Bairnsdale then north on the Bruthen-Buchan Road — about an hour from Bairnsdale and 45 minutes from Lakes Entrance, sealed the whole way. Fly into Melbourne and drive. Fuel is at the Buchan Valley Roadhouse on Main Street and at Karoonda Park, Gelantipy, but fill up in Bairnsdale or Lakes Entrance to be safe. Reception is Telstra 4G only and patchy around Buchan, so download maps before you leave.
• Where to stay: Buchan has about 236 residents and its beds go early — book well ahead. In town: the Buchan Caves Reserve campground (41 powered and 20 unpowered sites, hot showers, laundry and camper's kitchen, plus cabins and the eight-bed Caves House), the Buchan Motel, Buchan Caves Hotel, and The Stockmans Camp. The Parks Victoria campground was closed for upgrades until mid-August 2026 but is taking bookings again from then, so it's available for the rally. Fallbacks with real capacity are Lakes Entrance 45 minutes away — where the rally does its documentation and officials stay — plus Orbost and Bairnsdale about an hour out.
• While you’re there: Buchan Caves Reserve is the reason most people already know the town — guided tours of the Fairy Cave and Royal Cave run through limestone chambers of stalactites and calcite-rimmed pools, and bookings are essential at least 24 hours ahead. Snowy River National Park is an hour north past Gelantipy for Little River Falls and the gorge country. Southwards, Lakes Entrance puts you on the Gippsland Lakes and Ninety Mile Beach.

Entering

Enter through the WOLF portal. Entries opened 08:00 Friday 1 May 2026 and close 17:00 Friday 21 August 2026, with no automatic acceptance — every entry is vetted by ATR and AASA on vehicle, experience and medical grounds. Fees are $3,950 for Full Competition and Rally Sport, and Tour is $1,550 returning or $1,750 for new participants with group pricing for four or more cars. Rally Challenge is quoted inconsistently — the category page says $3,950 while the event page still lists $3,550 — so confirm the current figure on WOLF before entering. Licences are AASA only, not Motorsport Australia: a General Speed Licence for Tour, a National Race Licence for driver and co-driver in every competitive category, plus a civil licence and an AASA vehicle passport for competition cars. Tour runs road-registered cars with no cage at a 130 km/h cap, Rally Challenge needs a minimum half cage and RallySafe at the same cap, Rally Sport a full cage at 160 km/h, and Full Competition a full cage and frontal head restraint at open speed. Newcomers who can't prove tarmac experience must start in Rally Challenge. The event is pace-noted, and reconnaissance is allowed only in ordinary road-registered cars on open public roads at legal speed limits.

History & form

• History: Run for over 13 years; since 2025 starts directly on Main Street, Buchan. 2025 ATR champions were Jason and Fiona Wright (Nissan R35 Skyline).

Worth knowing

• Our run: Chora/Ferrante retired the Subaru WRX STI at TC17, the start of Special Stage 17, with a clutch failure that left them unable to select gears, having set a time on every one of the 15 scored stages to that point. SS17 was then cancelled, so the only scored stage they missed was the 36.88 km SS18 finale. They were running 9th outright and 2nd in Class 5 when they stopped, 18.9s up on Allan and Kerry Hines, who went on to finish 8th outright and 2nd in class. Their best stage was SS13, 8th quickest of the field.
• Attrition: Only 17 of 30 starters were classified. Eleven of the thirteen retirements were mechanical and two went off the road, both on SS17 — the accident there caused the stage to be cancelled. Jonathan Moir and Jason Killen each retired, rejoined and retired again.
• Notable: Buchan (pop. ~236) is home to the historic Buchan Caves and sits ~350 km east of Melbourne; Lakes Entrance, used for scrutineering, is a working coastal fishing town on Ninety Mile Beach.

How the result happened

Our running position after every stage — all 15 stages, 180.99 km. Positions are calculated from the full field's published stage times, so they show the order on stage time rather than the official classification, which can also carry road penalties.

The line stops at SS16 — that is where our rally ended.