Fresh from winning the season-opening rally in Western Australia and securing his fourth class victory on the tarmac of Targa Tasmania in a TRD Aurion, Bates is hoping he can score his third win in a row at his home event.
The Canberra round is a held in conjunction with a round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) and will see the Toyota duo mix it with ex-ARC competitors Cody Crocker, Dean Herridge and Scott Pedder.
Although APRC drivers cannot take points away from ARC competitors, Bates is keen to see how the S2000 Corolla squares up against the Group N cars of Crocker, Herridge and Pedder.
"Obviously the first two events of the year have gone well," Bates said. "I probably have had a little bit of luck on my side, so it would be nice to keep that momentum going into my home event.
"Everyone is over the moon about the pace of the car and Simon had exceptional speed during the afternoon stages of Heat 1 in WA, so we are all pleased with how it is going.
"It will be good to gauge where the S2000 Corolla is compared with the APRC's front-running Group N cars. The team is looking forward to the challenge and hopefully we can be competitive, though the main focus is obviously to win the ARC component."
Team-mate Evans suffered his first retirement in more-than two seasons in WA and, although he won Heat 1 of the year's first event, the reigning ARC champion is highly motivated to return to the top step of the podium.
"I'm excited to be heading back to Canberra," Evans said. "I'm not even thinking about the retirement in WA and I can't wait to spend a bit more time in the S2000 Corolla because I know the more I get dialled in, the faster I'll go.
"I'm looking forward to racing Cody, Dean and Scott and it will be nice to be starting a little further back and to be driving on swept roads for a change."
The Rally of Canberra will also see the debut of a privately entered Volkswagen Polo S2000 car.
Driven by Queensland business owner Marius Swart, the car won last year's South African Rally Championship and both Bates and Evans are excited to have another S2000 car to compete against.
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