The Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia crew snagged their second heat victory in their GR Yaris Rally 2 over teammates Harry Bates and Coral Taylor (GR Yaris AP4) for a third consecutive win in South Australia.
“Anthony and I felt at one with the car the whole weekend and we’ve had some pretty good pace,” said Lewis Bates after the fifth round of the Bosch Motorsport Australian Rally Championship.
“I think that’s something that both Anthony and I can be really proud of, I think we managed our pace really well and pushed when we had to – I think overall we had the pace on the weekend.”
Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall (Pedders Suspension & Brakes Skoda Favia R5) started Heat 2 similarly to Heat 1. They won the day’s first stage (SS9) ahead of Bates/McLoughlin and Bates/Taylor.
However, Pedder had an incident on SS10 and a bent right rear wheel to contend with on the Skoda Fabia R5. They retired early to Service before a rejoin ahead of SS12.
Harry Bates won Stages 10 and 11 to take the heat lead. Lewis Bates won the Stage 12 and took over the front running which he held onto for the duration. Harry Bates took out the Power Stage and knocked out 1.3s of the 7s advantage Lewis had as they tackled the final stage.
Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney (Hyundai i20) finished the day third ahead of Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey who had a slow run in the power stage when the Skoda stalled in the restricted speed zone.
Brother and fellow Skoda driver Eddie Maguire, with Ben Searcy, finished fifth ahead of bothers Jamie and Brad Luff (GR Yaris AP4). Next were Peter Rullo and James Marquet who were in a Skoda as their Hyundai was awaiting parts.
Bodie Reading and Mark Young (Subaru Impreza WRX STi) took out the Production Cup. They finished eighth while nearest class rivals Josh Wiedman and Nick Reid (WRX) were 18th.
Forced to retire were Tony Sullens and Kaylie Newell in their Peugeot 208 AP4 after an off in SS10, and Molly Spalding and Matthew Dillon had a similar fate on SS13 in their Subaru.
Jaidyn and Lucy Gluskie (Impreza RS) netted the Junior Cup win from Mitch Garrad and Taylah Murphy (RS) and finished 10th and 11th, behind ARC contenders Danny Traverso and Anthony Carr (Mitsubishi Evo 9).
Peter Dimmock and Paul Bennett headed 2WD Classic Cup, while Timothy Hiles and Morgan Ward took out Round 2 of the Subaru WRX Challenge.
The next round is the season finale, the Buckby Motors Rally Tasmania, in Burnie on November 11-24.
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