World Rally Championship returns to Australia

Australia will end a three-year absence from the World Rally Championship (WRC) with confirmation that a round of the 2009 WRC will be staged in northern NSW.

Australia last held a leg of the championship in 2006 near Perth but it was lost when the Western Australian government opted not to extend its contract to host the race.

However, Events NSW and the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) announced a new base for the sport would be established in the state's Northern Rivers region.

Rally Australia will be held on an alternating basis with Rally New Zealand until at least 2017 with an option to extend the agreement for another five years.

The rally will first be held from 3rd to 6th September 2009 and will contain 16 stages in and around the hinterland towns of Kyogle, Murwillumbah and Mullumbimby.

"After the Formula One, it's the biggest motor sport event in the World, and it's coming here to regional NSW," NSW Events Chief Executive Geoff Parmenter explained, adding that the event "will bring in excess of $100 million of new money into the state over the course of this first term of the agreement and it's expected to put pictures of this very picturesque part of the country in front of audiences in excess of 50 million per round."

The event will be based at the seaside town of Kingscliff, with the event's service park to be constructed on the beach - a WRC first.

Unlike the Perth event, the rally will be conducted on bitumen roads rather than in forest.