Sylvania-based rally driver Harry Bates will tackle this weekend’s final round of the World Rally Championship under a new banner.
Bates, who sits second in the points chase for the 2018 Australian Rally Championship title, is contesting the final round of the series which is being run in conjunction with the international event in the forests around Coffs Harbour.
Bates, 22, and his co-driver John McCarthy, are hoping to take home the national crown while also showcasing their ability to the visiting international teams with a strong result against the WRC drivers in the Coffs event.
“Basically our main goal is to win the Australian title,” Bates said.
“It’s nice to benchmark ourselves against the World Rally Championship drivers but we are in different specification cars and on a different type of tyre, so it’s impossible to really compete head-to-head against them.
“I am focused on coming away from the weekend with majority of the stage wins in the ARC, and a podium result. That’s what we are trying to do.”
The new livery on the Bates/McCarthy Toyota Yaris AP4 was unveiled last weekend as Toyota Australia announced a significant boost to its support for local motorsport.
The company, formerly based at Caringbah, has announced the formation of a factory-backed Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia rally team to campaign two Yaris AP4 rally cars in the 2019 Australian Rally Championship.
Bates said the move to the faster and newer Yaris AP4 has been an ‘interesting’ one.
“Ultimately, the car is faster than any car we’ve had before, so from that point of view, it’s been a massively positive move. The only thing that has been challenging has been developing the car and trying to get more out of it in certain conditions,” he said.
“Our team is trying to make a locally-built car compete on a level playing field with cars built in Europe on much larger budgets. That has been a challenge but I’ve learned more than I could ever have thought and really enjoyed playing a pivotal role in the car’s success.”
The new team, which is being run by Harry’s father Neal – a four-time Australian champion for Toyota – makes its debut at Rally Australia, the final round of the 13-round WRC series. It starts outside Coffs Harbour this Friday, November 16.
Next year, the factory-backed rally team will add a second Yaris AP4 to be driven by Harry’s younger brother, Lewis. Both the Bates brothers have been competing in the 2018 ARC season – Harry in the Yaris, with backing from Toyota Genuine Parts, and Lewis driving a Corolla S2000.
The Toyota GAZOO Racing name was established by Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan in April 2015 as the unifying brand for all its motorsport activities including the World Rally Championship and Le Mans-winning World Endurance Championship teams.
There are three cars contesting the WRC for Toyota this year and all are in action this weekend. The drivers are Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala and Esapekka Lappi and Estonia’s Ott Tänak.
Of the three, Tänak is in the three-way showdown for the 2018 title. He’s currently in third place with 181 points behind Belgium’s Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and France’s Sébastien Ogier (Ford), on 204. Ogier has five consecutive titles to his name.
Details: rallyaustralia.com.au