New car, same dominant performance for Bates in Canberra

Bates and Taylor were never challenged, winning all six stages of the day to lead their opposition home to win by over a minute.

It was a near-perfect Australian debut for the all-new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and a classy way for Bates to open his quest for back-to-back titles.

“Last year in Canberra we had very straightforward weather conditions and the battle was just a battle where we had to drive fast. But today felt like the weather threw a bit more at us and was changing all day long,” Bates said.

“I think the one thing that stayed pretty consistent all day was our pace, and to show the pace from the first stage to the last feels pretty nice.

“It was a tricky day. I have got some experience now in Canberra in wet conditions, which probably played in my favour, whereas I think some of the others were probably a little bit caught out by conditions.”

Constant rainfall cancelled the opening heat of action on Saturday, but drying conditions late in the day meant the opening round of the long awaited Australian Rally Championship season could finally begin the following morning.

Sunday’s opener, Long Jack, was held in drizzly conditions, but by the end of the day, dust would appear in parts of the rocky Kowen Forest.

Behind winner, Bates, the competition was much tighter, and it was a day-long battle for second between Scott Pedder and Lewis Bates.

Pedder had the fastest opening split on the first stage thanks, in-part, to a half-spin from Harry Bates, but a spin for Pedder himself put the ascendency toward the younger Bates brother.

It was not until the last stage of the morning that Pedder took the second overall position, something he would hold and expand upon until the penultimate stage.

His downfall was a puncture that occurred midway through that stage, losing him a minute to the leader and plummeting he and Glenn Macneall to fifth.

Despite winning six points thanks to his efforts on the Power Stage, he also punctured on the final stage of the rally.

Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin retook second place thanks to Pedder’s time loss to make it a Toyota 1-2 finish, like in Canberra in November last year.

Alex Rullo got his first Australia Rally Championship podium as reward for a consistent day.

The West Australian driver was confident heading into the day’s action, and it showed in his performances.

Rullo was just 21.2 seconds behind second placed Lewis Bates, but could have been much closer, or even higher than Bates on the leaderboard had it not been for a puncture in the morning.

It proves that there is yet another driver ready to take the podium fight to the leading seeded drivers.

Behind the podium places, Eddie Maguire couldn’t recoup the time he lost in the morning from a puncture, while Pedder took the final top five placing.

Tom Clarke’s return to his Ford Fiesta R5 was successful. He was a minute off fifth, but was happy with his performance in the car he’s been out of for nearly a year.

In Production Cup, Molly Taylor dominated the day to finish on top and also secure seventh overall. Her margin to her nearest rival was more than two minutes.

The Production podium was rounded out by event sponsor Mick Harding and Tasmanian Aidan Peterson.

A tight battle for the Junior Cup honours went right down to the final stage.

Mitch Garrad eked out a lead over Jaidyn Gluskie in the afternoon, however Garrad’s Subaru Impreza RS lost a wheel on the second to last stage, meaning significant time loss.

Gluskie took full points and the early series advantage over a rival he’s likely to see throughout the season.

Justin Northage’s Lotus Exige won the 2WD Cup, while Trevor Stilling, Claire Buccini and their Datsun Stanza took a well-earned Classic Cup win.

The ARC moves to Western Australia for round two next month when teams head across the Nullarbor to the Forest Rally.