Sun, sea, sand and silly hats

Telstra Rally Australia is famous for lots of things; excellent weather, fast and spectacular stages, flawless organisation and flies. And for drivers and the press, it's also famous for pre-event publicity opportunities. And this year's event, the last to be run from Perth, was no exception.



A selection of drivers spent the today (Monday) at Scarborough beach, throwing themselves into a series of activities seemingly designed to introduce sand to areas they never thought possible. It started with a range of exercises the world-famous Australian beach lifeguards go through as part of their training. The final saw Dani Sordo and Chris Atkinson diving for a flag at the end of a beach-long sprint, with Sordo eventually taking victory.



There was then a game of beach cricket under the watchful eye of local fast-bowler Jeff Thomson, or 'Thommo'. It was Matthew Wilson who proved the star with willow and leather, clouting the ball so hard that it disappeared into the near-by sand dunes. Lost ball, game over.



Fellow Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen had a tougher time picking up the intricacies of cricket though, as did Chinese driver Xu Lang, competing in Australia with a view to launching a P-WRC campaign next year. Hardly surprising; most of the English and Australian nations find it hard to fathom cricket even though it's virtually a national pastime, so imagine what Finns and Chinese must make of it?

-WRC.com