Harry Bates and John McCarthy have won the Netier National Capital Rally after a dramatic day in Canberra. Taking out second place with another impressive display was RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC) debutant and current Repco Australia Supercars champion, Shane van Gisbergen alongside experienced co-driver Glen Weston, while Brendan Reeves and Kate Catford rounded out the podium in third.
Claiming his fifth win at his home event, Bates and McCarthy (Toyota GR Yaris AP4) ended up winning two of the day’s six stages and claiming the victory by almost one and half minutes.
After a brilliant day behind the wheel yesterday, it was a far different affair for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia star on Sunday as Reeves (Hyundai i20N) broke the leader’s streak and won the opening stage
Bates then won the next two stages including a dramatic SS9 where there was a major delay due to the engine of Eli Evans and Adam Wright’s Mini Cooper catching fire — Reeves and young gun Taylor Gill stopping to help the duo deal with the fire.
While Reeves was unfortunately slowed during the day’s third stage, the Hyundai N i20 pilot bounced back with a massive performance on the second pass of the Wamboin stage, where he once again picked up a stage win.
However, one of the big moments off the rally came on the penultimate stage where van Gisbergen picked up his first win of the weekend – beating Bates by just two seconds and essentially locking in second place ahead of EROAD Power Stage.
With bonus points on offer for the event’s final stage, van Gisbergen (Skoda Fabia R5) continued his brilliant Sunday with a faultless run to win the stage over Bates by almost three seconds, while Reeves and Catford rounded out the stage’s top three, five seconds off.
“Yesterday’s roads were tougher especially with the conditions but I just took the slow option and made sure we got to the end,” van Giserbgen said.
“The more experience we got, the faster we were going. We just needed to make sure we were there at the end and then we pretty much flat out on those last three stages.
“It’s pretty special (to win Power Stage). I had a good run through that stage before, a lost a bit due to the kangaroos and that took my focus away.
“I knew if we got it right we would be good. It’s special in rally when you get that harmony with your cod-ever we were going pretty good there.
“I would love to do more rally and hopefully this weekend helped.”
Following on from the Netier National Capital Rally, the RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship now heads to Western Australia for the Make Smoking History Forest Rally on 20-22 May. Unfortunately for van Gisbergen, this clashes with the Winton SuperSprint (21-22 May), the fifth round of the Repco Supercars calendar.
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