Twenty-five-year-old Lewis Bates has won his first round of the Australian Rally Championship and became the first new round winner in five years.
Bates’ older brother, Harry, has dominated the series since 2018 but suffered a prop shaft failure in his Toyota GR Yaris AP4 on the opening day of the 13-stage Gippsland Rally in Victoria.
This left his team-mate, Lewis, with a lead that he never surrendered, and enabled Troy Dowel (21) and Max McRae (18) to fill the podium places.
Indeed it was a rally for the young guns. Eighteen-year-old Taylor Gill had driven his Subaru Impreza WRX into a brilliant second place on the first day, but disastrously, his gearbox broke on the final stage on Saturday.
Up until that moment, Gill had shown both Dowel and McRae a clean pair of heels.
Hyundai i20 G4 driver, Dowel, had suffered from a stomach bug on the first day of the rally, but upped his pace on day two to claim second place, while McRae drove a steady rally after crashing the Subaru badly on its last appearance.
For Lewis Bates though, it was a victory a long time in the making.
“Both Anthony (McLoughlin) and I are absolutely over the moon. It’s a great result for the team and it’s pretty special,” Bates said.
“It’s our first Australian Rally Championship victory, so it’s pretty cool.”
Earlier in the rally, 2014 Australian Champion, Scott Pedder, set the rally alight with blistering stage times in his two-wheel drive Renault Clio – the car that took him to the title.
Pedder was second quickest on the rally’s second stage, and while he held down fourth place at the day’s end, the car refused to start after the evening service and he was forced to retire.
Another to retire was Richie Dalton in a third Yaris AP4. The Irishman slipped from second to fourth in the championship standings after his car suffered terminal gearbox problems on day one.
Brendan Reeves thrilled the fans in a heavily modified Datsun 1600, eventually finishing the rally in sixth place. Reeves will drive the car in a bid to win the 100th anniversary Alpine Rally in December.
The Bates brothers still dominate the ARC standings, although Harry’s lead has been cut to 65 points ahead of Lewis. Dowel is up to third place after a stellar season so far.
The next round of the Australian Rally Championship is not until late October, in South Australia.
In the meantime, Harry Bates is busy preparing for his international debut at Rally New Zealand next month, where he’ll drive a Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo for the first time.
Bates will battle for honours in the WRC2 category against Kiwis Hayden Paddon,Shane van Gisbergen and Ben Hunt.
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