Toyota’s Gazoo Racing Australia (TGRA) Rally Team is popping the champagne after securing the manufacturers’ title of the Australian Rally Championship thanks to a 1-2 finish at the penultimate round in Adelaide.
Lewis Bates and co-pilot Anthony Mcloughlin helped Toyota secure the manufacturers’ title by taking line honours over the weekend, followed by teammates Harry Bates and Coral Taylor.
For the 2023 ARC season, Toyota has taken out the top spot at four of the five rallies so far, with the most recent win putting TGRA atop the leaderboard with 171 points – 55 points ahead of its nearest rival, Skoda.
The latest victory comes after Toyota secured the manufacturers’ title in the World Rally Championship (WRC) with a strong finish in the Rally Chile event earlier this month.
Both of the Bates brothers are still very much in contention to take out the driver’s championship heading into the final round of action in Canberra, with Lewis sitting 23 points ahead of Harry.
“We were always confident at the GR Yaris AP4 was a championship-winning car and much of that credit goes to Neal Bates and his team for taking what was a superb platform to start with, and building it into an outstanding race car,” says Toyota’s Vin Naidoo.
“I’m looking forward to a thrilling battle between the two drivers and co-drivers next month in Canberra to see who takes the flag in the driver’s and co-driver’s championship.”
The final rally of the 2023 ARC season kicks off on the 17th of November.
Manufacturer standings for the 2023 Australian Rally Championship, after five rounds of racing action, can be found below.
- Toyota (171)
- Skoda (116)
- Hyundai (87)
- Subaru (67)
- Ford (56)
- Mitsubishi (41)
