TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Australia (TGRA) dominated the weekend at the Gippsland Rally, with defending champions Harry Bates and Coral Taylor taking the win and extending their lead in the 2024 Australian Rally Championship (ARC).

This was the pair’s third win in four rallies and following close behind were TGRA teammates Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin, who put in a strong comeback performance after being plagued by mechanical problems at the Queensland Rally in June.

Held 200km east of Melbourne around the town of Heyfield, good driving conditions saw Harry and Coral take out four of the eight stages on the first day, with Lewis and Anthony ending Saturday in third behind Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall.

Harry and Coral continued their winning ways on Sunday by taking out six of eight stages including the Galvaniize Insurance Power Stage with Lewis and Anthony only 1.5 seconds behind.

After all 16 stages, Lewis and Anthony climbed to second to make it a 1-2 finish for the TGRA Rally Team.

The win in Gippsland for Harry and Coral now makes Toyota the most successful manufacturer in ARC for rally wins, with its 74th victory moving it one place ahead of Subaru.

Harry Bates quote: “It’s unbelievable to be a part of that rich history for Toyota. It obviously started with dad and Coral winning so many rallies for Toyota in the 90s, and then Simon and Sue Evans taking a lot of wins along the way in the mid-2000s as well. Now Lewis and I are getting to add our bit to the rich history of the last few years. It feels incredible to be a part of it.”

Lewis Bates quote: “We really wanted a clean weekend and podium finish and we managed to do that, and it all came together and we got a 1-2 for the team – Anthony and I are very happy. The team did an amazing job repairing our car, it was a huge repair job and we are very grateful to them and we are happy to reward them with a podium this weekend.”

Neal Bates quote: “It was obviously a very good weekend, with Harry out front from stage 1 for the entire weekend, and Lewis ended up second after a tough day for some of the other competitors in the final stage. It’s a tough and brutal sport, and it makes weekends like this amazing.”

The fifth and penultimate round of the 2024 ARC will take place on 13-15 September with the Adelaide Rally.