Seventh Consecutive Rally Of Canberra Win For TGRA Team
March 25, 2025
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TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Australia (TGRA) has secured its seventh consecutive victory at the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally of Canberra, with Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin leading the field after a weekend of hard-fought racing.
Defending Australian Rally Championship (ARC) title-holders Harry Bates and Coral Taylor recorded a podium finish, ending the round in third place after significant damage to their GR Yaris Rally2 early on Saturday.
The 2025 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally of Canberra marked the first hometown victory for Lewis and Anthony following six consecutive wins by Harry, recording four stage wins across the two days with consistent performances over all 16 stages.
Saturday started strongly for Harry and Coral with a win in the first stage, before a mistake in Stage 2 led to their GR Yaris Rally2 enter a ditch, leading to the rear right wheel coming off and the defending champions missing Stage 2, 3 and 4.
Meanwhile Lewis and Anthony were able to take out Stage 4 and 8 – their favourite stage – to finish Saturday in second place behind WRC alumni Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard. The damage sustained in Stage 2 meant Harry and Coral finished the day in 14th place, with plenty of work to do to catch up.
Heading into Heat 2 on Sunday, the confidence of both Harry and Lewis was reflected in their strong start to the day, with a 1-2 finish which set the tone for the remaining stages.
Overnight leader Hayden Paddon was forced into an early retirement after hitting a kangaroo in the first stage of Day 2, leaving Harry and Lewis to duke it out on their home turf.
Harry and Lewis finished second and third respectively in the second stage day, before trading stage wins in the final six stages of the round. Harry’s dominant Heat 2 performance featured five overall stage wins including the final Power Stage to comfortably win the day with Lewis in second place.
Consistently strong performances across the weekend from Lewis and Anthony saw them take out the event ahead of Scott Pedders and John Macneall, while Harry and Coral’s dominant Heat 2 performance saw them climb from 14th to 3rd.
The win is the first at Rally of Canberra for Lewis and Anthony, and their second win in the last three ARC rounds after their victory at the Adelaide Hills Rally last September.
New to the 2025 ARC season is a ballot system for the top three drivers to determine who sweeps the road each race, with each driver drawing envelopes for each heat to determine who heads out first.
Lewis Bates quote: “Canberra’s always a very tough rally, especially this year where conditions were extremely rough and demanding on the crews and cars. I’m super excited to get the win this weekend – my first win in Canberra. I’ve been trying to win this event for about seven years now and to do it in front of family and friends is a very good feeling. I can’t thank Anthony enough for doing that absolutely perfect job on the notes all weekend in what is such a tough rally and also the whole team at TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Australia and Neal Bates Motorsport.”
Harry Bates quote: “A challenging weekend here at the 2025 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally of Canberra, but happy to be on the podium which we didn’t expect after our issues yesterday morning. But we had a really strong day today, got good points – a Heat 2 win and Power Stage win, so nice comeback for Coral and I, and now we can look forward to WA.”
Neal Bates quote: “Obviously very happy with the way the weekend’s turned out – to win the event I was so happy for (Lewis), for seven years he’s been doing this event and finally win his home round, I know what it feels and it’s very, very special to do it in front of everyone. Harry won today’s heat and then won the power stage so he’s come back with a bag full of points, which after yesterday morning you couldn’t ask for any better than that.”
The second race of the 2025 ARC season will be taking place from May 23-25 at the Forest Rally in Western Australia.
In other rally news, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing won its fifth consecutive Safari Rally Kenya in the World Rally Championship (WRC), with Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin piloting their GR Yaris Rally1 across 383km of demanding roads.
The win extended Evans’ lead in the 2025 WRC standings after successive victories in Sweden and Kenya.
TOYOTA GAZOO RACING RALLY OF CANBERRA RESULTS
HEAT 1:
2nd: Lewis Bates
14th: Harry Bates
HEAT 2:
1st: Harry Bates
2nd: Lewis Bates
OVERALL:
1st: Lewis Bates
3rd: Harry Bates
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1st: Lewis Bates & Anthony McLoughlin, 86
2nd: Scott Pedders & Glenn Macneall, 74
3rd: Harry Bates & Coral Taylor, 70
4th: Joshua Wiedman & KJ Miller, 56
5th: Hayden Paddon & John Kennard, 50
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