Bates, 30, is Aussie Toyota motorsport royalty having matched the four ARC titles won by father Neal, driving for the family’s Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia-branded team.
The rally program has now been linked with the Supercars effort under a three-legged Toyota motorsport marketing push that also includes the GR Cup.
But Bates is also in Sydney witnessing the debut of cousin Zach as a full-time Supercars Championship driver, steering a Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet Camaro.
“There’s a bit of an internal battle going on,” acknowledged Harry Bates, sitting alongside Toyota heavyweights during a press event on Friday.
“Obviously very excited for Zach. To have my cousin, who’s actually more like a brother, debuting in Supercars this year is really exciting.
“In my ideal world it would be in a Toyota, but there were no seats available and he managed to pick up a seat, which is really exciting for him, his family, and us as a Bates family as well.
“It’s really cool to see. I think he’s very deserving of it, so I hope he goes well, but I also hope that Toyota go well. We’ve been a big part of the Toyota family for over 30 years as a business.
“To see them coming into this category now and to see the evolution of the Gazoo Racing brand from its infancy when we started the rally programme in 2019 is really exciting.”
Zach Bates well and truly proved he’s deserving of his opportunity with a stunning start to proceedings on Friday.
The 21-year-old was the class of the five-strong rookie field in qualifying in sixth – a full 15 places ahead of experienced teammate Jack Le Brocq.
Bates eventually took the chequered flag in 14th, just over a tenth shy of top rookie Jayden Ojeda, after a 26-lap contest that taught the 2024 Super2 Series winner plenty about tyre life.
His progress wasn’t helped by an early bump-and-run from Brodie Kostecki that folded the Camaro’s rear bumper onto its right-rear tyre.
“It was rubbing against the tyre and it probably looked worse than it was. It popped out and we kept going on our merry ways, but it was extremely, extremely hard,” Bates told Supercars.
“Unfortunately, my first race around here, I didn’t probably expect the deg that I got. Just need to look into it and do a better job of managing it.”
Ojeda (PremiAir Camaro) and Bates led the way among the rookies, while Jackson Walls (Objective Mustang) was 18th, Rylan Gray (DJR Mustang) 20th and Jobe Stewart (Erebus Camaro) 23rd.
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