Bates, a three-time EROAD Australian Rally Championship winner, has begun work on putting together a program that would take him to Europe.
Speaking with Speedcafe, Bates earmarked a part-time tilt in the FIA World Rally Championship in WRC2 or the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC).
Rally2 cars are the headline act in WRC2 and the ERC.
The latter looks more likely, according to Bates, who is using Hayden Paddon as inspiration that it is possible.
Bates will pilot a Rally2 Toyota GR Yaris in the Australian Rally Championship while Paddon will be behind the wheel of a Rally2-spec Hyundai i20 N.
“We are talking about trying to put together a very small WRC2 program for this year, whether that comes off or not, I don’t know, but it would be in the second half of the year if it does, so I definitely have those goals,” said Bates.
Click here now.
“It’s just getting funding for those sorts of things from this side of the world is really tough and the only person who’s achieved it in the last 20 years is Hayden.
“He’s obviously had a great couple of years in the ERC, but it’s really, really tough to get the money from this side of the world to go and do that.
“Having said that, the ERC is probably my ultimate goal at this point because it’s a really good value championship.
“Compared to WRC2 at an ERC level, Rally2 is the outright category, so if you look at Hayden, he was competing for the outright championship win there, which is a cool thing.”
Bates will go head-to-head with Paddon in the Australian Rally Championship this year.
If nothing else, it will give the Australian a chance to see how he fares against a WRC rally winner.
Paddon was a full-timer in the FIA World Rally Championship with Hyundai, and in that time finished on the podium on eight occasions.
Last year, he won the FIA European Rally Championship, becoming the first driver from outside the continent to take the title.
“You always try and test yourself against those sorts of people to know where you’re at – and I’ve been fortunate to compete against Hayden a couple of times before but only few and far between and we weren’t always in the same event,” Bates explained.
“If I look back to a rally that he did here a few years ago, he was in the APRC (Asia Pacific Rally Championship) on a different tyre to what we were on, so it is going to be nice to have that benchmark this year for all of us, not just for me.
“I think what it will show is that the Australian Rally Championship is a pretty competitive championship.
“Over the years we have had some pretty good drivers come out of our championship because it’s not easy.
“Australia is a big country with varying terrain and the ARC teaches you a lot about how to deal with those different environments.”
Bates and Paddon will compete in the Rally of Canberra on March 21-23.
Discussion about this post