The lead Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia pair in their GR Yaris Rally 2 were involved in tight tussle with Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall in their Skoda Fabia R5. Over the eight stages in Heat 1 of the Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship fourth round, both crews narrowly won four each.

“Strong day, we had a good rhythm from the first stage and managed to stay in control. All-in-all, a very solid day. The car, Coral and everyone was really on their game today, so it feels good,” Bates said.

“[Sunday is] a totally different day. Super technical stages, whereas today’s stages were quite fast, so we have quite a different thought pattern going into tomorrow.”

As one of the ARC’s endurance events, no points are awarded on Saturday.  Crews have to finish on Sunday before the points standings are finalised as currently Bates and Pedder are one and two in the championship.

Fellow Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia pilots, Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin finished the day third and just 6.4s ahead of Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney (Hyundai i20). Fifth at the end of the day were Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey (Skoda) in front of brothers Jamie and Brad Luff (GR Yaris AP4).

Seventh and the leader of the Production Cup are Molly Taylor and Andy Sarandis 18.5s ahead of class rivals and the fellow Subaru Impreza WRX STi crew of Bodie Reading and Mark Young.

Sixteenth placed Nick Seymour and Matthew Whitten (Ford Fiesta) are the front runners in 2WD ARC Cup while in the Junior ARC Cup, Mitch Garrad and Taylah Murphy (Subaru Impreza WRX) lead.

Ivan Thompson and Lachlan Nordsvan (Ford Capri) took over the lead of the 2WD Classic Cup when James and Mark Leoncini’s Toyota Corolla AE71 had mechanical issues on the sixth stage. Meanwhile Glenn Brinkman and Scott Beckwith have a handy lead in the debut of the of the Subaru WRX Challenge.

There will be another eight stages on Sunday in Victoria’s Gippsland area which will commence at around 10:00am.