His 2023 has been as remarkable and as turbulent as his 2022 season, and in the second final-round thriller in as many years, the 28-year-old is hoping to come out on the other side of the ledger.
If his comments ahead of the weekend are anything to go by, he’s learned a lot from his mistake 12 months ago and will adjust his strategy for this year’s final round.
“Yeah, probably a little bit,” Bates responded when quizzed if he’ll change his approach in comparison to the 2022 Coffs Coast Rally.
“What I learned from last year is just to turn up, enjoy driving the car and not worry too much about the points, because the reality is that we’ve got a job to do and the result will flow on from that, and not the other way around.
“That’s my big focus, just to enjoy this event.”
In saying that, enjoyment for Bates shouldn’t be too much of an issue, given it’s his home rally and the event that he’s dominated for years on end.
Gunning for his fifth straight win in the nation’s capital, he knows just what it takes to win in Canberra, and will formulate the best approach to do just that.
Despite competing in this event on eight occasions, there are still aspects that are unknown to him. One of them is the all-new Kingfisher stage that will debut on Saturday.
“That’s a whole new write for us – completely new pace notes,” he said. “I think there’s a couple of tiny sections that are common, but that’s it.
“The rest are pretty familiar. Oakey Creek, stage one, being 24 kilometres long is going to be a bit of a challenge, especially with hot weather. The stage is different to last year and the year before, but it’s grabbing sections from each, so it’s not all that unfamiliar to us.”
Asked if he would target either the new stage or the long opening stage of the event to make a difference on the rest of the field, his response was surprising.
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