Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC)

2022 Australian Off Road Championship (AORC)

As a company with a heritage of performance and on-road race excellence, we are now embarking on a new off-road journey. Walkinshaw Performance are proud first-time competitors in the 2022 Australian Off Road Championship (AORC). This event is a national off-road competition that has been running for 41 years and comprises of 6 events between March and November 2022. These are all defined as ‘long course’ events that are conducted on a track of no less than 15 kilometres in length. The courses and tracks used for the AORC are often narrow, twisting, tree-lined tracks, undulating farmland tracks, mountain tracks and river crossings, sometimes incorporating man-made jumps and other obstacles.

Walkinshaw Performance is excited to further develop our practical 4WD knowledge and showcase our engineering prowess in this exhilarating competition. We’ve worked day and night to prepare our vehicles for a variety of off-road conditions, including mud, dust, rubble and water. Our engineering team, led by David Kermond, are all exceptionally experienced and knowledgeable in their fields, but preparing our vehicles for this competition has been a very challenging experience, and certainly new territory for the entire team.

We gratefully acknowledge our fantastic range of sponsors for their incredible support and input throughout this competition, most especially their unbounded enthusiasm, wisdom, and practical assistance during the preparation stages. We heartily recommend these businesses to you, having had excellent first-hand experience with them.

Warren Luff

Production 4WD / Volkswagen Amarok W580X

Warren Luff is a long-time crowd favourite and synonymous with all things motorsport. Outside of his impressive professional V8 Supercar race driver career, his passions are still firmly based in behind-the-wheel activities. He is currently a stunt driver at Movie World on the Gold Coast, a driver coach with McElrea Racing, and a high-performance vehicle test driver and track tester for Motor Magazine. Of course, he is most renowned for his incredible V8 Supercar skills and accomplishments. He has stood on the Bathurst podium a stunning 6 times in his career and is the only driver to have won the PIRTEK Enduro cup twice. Warren holds a special place in the hearts of Walkinshaw Group and has been a co-driver for our race team since 2014 and continues to be a popular star of the Walkinshaw Andretti United team in 2022.

In 2021, Bruce Stewart, WAU’s Team Principal, casually mentioned to Warren that Walkinshaw Performance were working on an AORC entry and Warren immediately responded with “whatever they’re doing I want in!”. The lure of the infamous Finke rally and the opportunity to expand his repertoire into the off-road arena was all it took to get Warren on board, and we are WP are overjoyed to have him.

Co-Driver

Ricc Pontonio

David Kermond

2WD Performance / GM ZR2 Colorado

David Kermond has worked for the Walkinshaw Group since 2016, initially as a Race Engineer and currently as a Managing Engineer for Walkinshaw Performance. Responsible for product engineering, development and testing, David heads a passionate team of motor vehicle obsessed mechanics and engineers. Described by his colleagues as “an all-round top bloke” this highly respected engineer lives and breathes motorsport.

David started karting as a 12-year-old which led him into Tin Top Racing and Tarmac Rallies. Over the years he has successfully competed in both State and National championships. He has tried his hand in many competitions and types of vehicles, including motorbikes, and is currently a licensed competitor in the Tin Top Races. David relishes the opportunity to experience, build, drive and compete in as many diverse fields as possible, thriving on the challenge of mastery. WP is proud to support David’s long-standing dream to compete in the AORC.

Co-Driver

James Ackerley

2022 BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship Schedule

Round	Date	Event	State
1	Mar 18-20	Cobb & Co Hotel St. George 399	QLD
2	May 06-08	Pooncarie Desert Dash	NSW
3	Jun 11-13	Tatts Finke Desert Race	NT
4	Jul 30-31	Can-Am Loveday 400	SA
5	Sep 02-04	Hindmarsh Shire Rainbow Desert Enduro	VIC
6	Oct 20-23	Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race	WA

These courses are designed to put the vehicles and the drivers to the test! Expect thrills and spills, as unexpected obstacles, conditions and vehicle damages are combatted by drivers, navigators and engineers in a united team effort to reign machine over nature.

You can see the action on Channel 7 Sports, 7plus and 7 Mate. Full competition information is available at aorc.com.au.

Walkinshaw Performance will post updates on our social media channels and a collection of videos throughout each event.

Watch on YouTube

Visit aorc.com.au

Watch on 7plus