Bates and Taylor claim dominant Narooma Forest Rally win

The Toyota Gazoo Racing pair notched up their second overall win of the season in Round 3, leading the way comfortably across both days.

Claiming eight of the 12 stages, the pair came home on Sunday a comfortable 13 seconds clear of the lead Pedders Rally Team entry of Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall.

The final stage on Sunday sealed the crushing victory for the championship leaders, coming home five seconds ahead of the Pedders Skoda.

Entering the weekend just 10 points clear of Pedder and Macneall, Harry acknowledged the close championship fight expected for the final three rounds.

“It’s been a pretty incredible weekend. It’s my home rally, so to win both heats, the overall event victory, and the record for the most ARC heat wins, which is something I’ve been chasing for a while, feels pretty special,” Harry said.

“We’re halfway through the championship now, and it’s still incredibly close between the top three.

“None of us have been able to build a significant gap over the others, so I’m expecting the second half of the season to be just as tight.

“There’s no doubt this weekend was important for our championship campaign because we managed to extend our points buffer over Scott and Glenn.

“With that said, it’s far from over. Tasmania is an endurance event, and you have to make it to the finish to score the points. It was a great weekend for us, but there’s still a long way to go.”

Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin claimed both Power Stages to take home full bonus points, but could not overcome the time deficit to their TGR teammates.

The second Pedders entry of Jackson Long and his father Damien finished fourth overall, a turnaround in fortunes for the pair after a difficult start to the season.

Long moves into fourth in the championship standings, while Toby Price and Ben Searcy drop to seventh outright due to the Subaru WRX Challenge class not competing in Narooma.

Josh Redhead and Ray Winwood-Smith rounded out the overall top five, taking class honours in the Wolf Sports Cup for production cars.

The EROAD Australian Rally Championship now heads south to the Apple Isle for Rally Tasmania on August 14-16.

Harry and Taylor carry a 30-point lead over Pedder and Macneall, with Lewis and McLoughlin a further 12 points back in third spot.