Warrnambool father-and-son duo Ian and Shannon Rentsch win 2018 Australia Off Road Championship

Warrnambool’s Ian and Shannon Rentsch collected overall honours after winning its three rounds at St George, Finke and Rainbow.

They capped off their series with victory at Rainbow – the longest event on the calendar – on Sunday.

“We’d never won all three rounds before so that was a bonus,” Shannon said.

“It was one of our better years, winning all three events. Finke is the biggest race for us, so it’s pretty special to do both in the same year.”

The family duo will now enjoy a break before setting its sights on a 10^th national crown.

“We’ll try and have another good year next year and see what happens,” Shannon said.

“They years have gone by quickly and it’s hard to believe we’ve won nine.”

Their tilt at a ninth title started in Queensland in May when they won the St George-based leg.

They claimed a sixth Finke Desert Race crown in June and capped off the series at Rainbow, in Victoria’s Wimmera region.

“The St George and Finke lengths are similar, around 450 kilometres, and Rainbow is the longest,” Shannon said.

“It’s nearly 600km, a real endurance event over two days.

“It’s in the Little Desert and there’s white sand there and it gets chopped up a lot and at the end of the day, the track’s really rough.”

The Rentschs, who also work together, use their love of off road racing as quality father-son time. Shannon drives and Ian navigates.

“We enjoy getting out there. A lot of preparation goes into the car and that’s what gets us the results,” Shannon said.

“We have always raced together and we both prepare the car and work on it and the rest of the family have a part in helping out too.”

Shannon said his mother Dianne and Warrnambool’s Mick Malone were integral to their success.

The father-of-two – he has daughter Milla, 5, and son Tate, 2, with wife Kate – is enjoying introducing his own children to the sport.

“My little boy is right into anything with wheels at the minute,” he said.

“I dare say in years to come he’ll get into some sort of racing.”