Bates and co-driver John McCarthy put together a near flawless performance to defend their Canberra crown on Sunday, securing 15 of 16 stage wins across the two-day event.

They led by almost three minutes over Subaru's Molly Taylor and Dale Moscatt, with Clayton Hoy and Erin Kelly rounding out the podium in their Mitsubishi Evo IX.

It was the only national event on the rally calendar this year after the Australian Rally Championship was cancelled in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Although Bates was unable to defend his ARC title in 2020, his hometown rally doubled as the Motorsport Australia Rally Cup.

"It feels amazing. It's such a tough event. It's sometimes a lottery whether or not things are going to go your way but certainly this weekend, we put on a good performance and somethings went our way as well," Bates said.

"It's always special to win at home. My family was here watching, it's always awesome to be in Canberra and be able to sleep in my bed and come down to the service park just five minutes from home.

"It is such a tough event so it's rewarding in two senses. One being I did it in my hometown, in front of my family and so on but also in that it's such a tough event. It's very rewarding to get the win."

Lewis Bates and co-driver Anthony McLoughlin, however, had another disastrous day and were casualties of Caves Block in Sunday's opener.

MORE CANBERRA SPORT

Bates and McCarthy had a clean sweep of stage wins in the first leg, but had the second-fastest time behind Taylor and Moscatt in Hyles Block Short on day two.

It's the fourth time they've claimed all but one stage in an ARC-level event, with NSW's Taylor also spoiling their perfect finish in Canberra last year.

But the victory tasted bittersweet for a different reason, being the last time Bates drives the team's current Toyota Yaris AP4 that's now won 12 rallies.

Toyota and Neal Bates Motorsport unveiled the designs for their next rally car this week, with both Bates brothers to compete in the new generation GR Yaris AP4 in 2021.

"It was nice to give the car the send off it deserved and we have a lot of hard work over the off-season to get ready for next year," Bates said.

"It was very cool to claim a 12th win in that car, it's a big achievement. It's a testament to the team at Neal Bates Motorsport who built and developed it over the last few years.

"We expected the GR Yaris AP4 to be strong like this one and hopefully it's quick to begin with. But we're not unaware of the fact we've got a lot of work to do, we need to continue working in the off-season so it's ready come the National Capital Rally in March."

National Capital Rally Top Five Results: