Brothers Harry and Lewis Bates are set to battle it out for the 2021 Australian Rally Championship title at Saturday’s Monaro Sprint Rally.
In yet another COVID-19 affected season, this will only be the third round of the series, after rallies in Canberra in March, and Queensland in May.
Driving a pair of factory-backed Toyota GR Yaris AP4s built by their father’s Neal Bates Motorsport operation, the brothers have been the dominant force again this season.
Harry, the older brother, has been the pace setter and is on track to claim his second national title in a row, and it seems unlikely than anyone else will match the speed of the Toyotas.
Both brothers have been keeping their eye in lately, driving in rounds of the Toyota 86 race series in Australia, with Harry competing at Bathurst just last weekend.
Sitting third in the championship race, and leading the Production Cup, is Victorian Arron Windus (main photo) in a Subaru WRX, and with a new engine fitted, he’ll be hoping to improve on his third place in Queensland.
Windus also has a mathematical chance of claiming the overall title, but both Toyotas will need to falter.
Pushing him all the way to the Production Cup flag will be the 2017 champion, Nathan Quinn, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Exo X that he steered in last weekend’s final round in Victoria.
Fresh from his test drive of a Fiesta World Rally Car at M-Sport’s test facility in the UK recently, Luke Anear will be back behind the wheel of his Ford Fiesta R5 as he continues his development.
The successful businessman also rode with Sebastien Loeb in Ford’s new Puma Rally1 hybrid, and is targeting a five-round WRC program in 2022 as well – possibly in a Puma.
Due to the late date and the remote location of the Monaro Sprint Rally, which is being conducted in the far south east of NSW, only 21 cars have entered the final round of the ARC.
Yet competition is likely to be intense. The 2011 champion, Justin Dowel, returns to national competition in a Volkswagen Polo as he tries his best to outpace his son, Troy, who’ll drive a Hyundai i20 in the series’ G4 class.
There will also be a fleet of young guns pushing their barrows for higher honours as well.
Fiesta drivers Ryan Williams and Adrian Stratford are battling for the Junior Cup and the 2WD championship, but in differing cars.
Queenslander, Williams, has a 1-litre, turbocharged Fiesta R2, while Stratford, from Victoria, has a 1.6-litre turbo car that, in theory, should be much quicker.
Another showing his wares this season is NSW driver Taylor Gill, although his car of choice is an Impreza WRX.
For this event, experienced co-driver (and former Targa Tasmania winning driver) Steve Glenney joins Gill to call the pacenotes, in a move that could well fast-track his career ahead of a busy 2022 season.
The final round of the RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship, consists of 10 competitive stages covering over 200 kilometres, and will be held over one day.
Australian Rally Championship, after 2 of 3 rounds:
1/ Harry Bates – Toyota GR Yaris AP4 – 220
2/ Lewis Bates – Toyota GR Yaris AP4 – 165
3/ Arron Windus – Subaru WRX STi – 136
4/ Troy Dowel – Hyundai i20 G4 – 81
5/ Nathan Quinn – Mitsubishi Evo 10 – 73
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