Canberra's Harry Bates took home the National Capital Rally title for the fourth year in a row on Sunday to kick-start his 2022 season, but his rivals were hot on his tail.
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Once such was rally newcomer, V8 Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen, who took out the final two stages in his debut event.
Bates crossed 2.7 seconds behind van Gisbergen on the power stage, but the ACT-based Toyota driver had done enough in the other 12 stages to take the title.
He was quick out of the blocks on Saturday morning and held his position but on Sunday it was different story. He did not finish fastest in four stages, with van Gisbergen crossing first in two and Brendan Reeves the other two.
Bates and co-driver John McCarthy fought back during the day to stretch the rally's winning margin out to more than a minute.
"It was a very tough weekend," Bates said.
"It threw a lot at us. We had mud and slippery conditions Saturday on the Brindabella side of Canberra, but then today on the Corin side of Canberra, the conditions were really, really good.
"So thoroughly enjoyable and very, very happy to get the win again here in Canberra. I love this rally and it's awesome to be standing on the top step."
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Victorian driver Eli Evans started Sunday in third spot before everything fell apart in the ninth stage.
The Evan Motorsport team's engine in their mini cooper caught fire halfway into the 19.43km leg.
Evans and his co-driver Adam Wright were forced to withdraw from the event as a result. Both drivers were OK after the incident but Wright received some burns to his hands and eyebrows.
Van Gisbergen and Reeves were hot on the tail of Bates throughout the final stages, finishing second and third respectively.
Although the two-time Supercars champion told The Canberra Times ahead of his Australia rally debut he had no plans of taking out the event, he went very close.
"[Saturday's] roads were probably tougher, especially with the conditions, and I just took the slow option and made sure we got through," he said.
"The more experience we got, the faster we were going to get so I just had to make sure we were there at the end. We were pretty much flat out on those last three stages, full of confidence."
The Kiwi will shift his focus back to Supercars with the Melbourne grand prix next week. He said there were a few conflicts with his V8 schedule and upcoming rallies but he would love to do more if he could.
Drivers will be glad to hear van Gisbergen will likely be unable to race in every rally event on the national circuit this year.
Bates' younger brother Lewis finished 16th after winning the sixth and seventh stages, and finishing top five in all stages bar one, to round out a strong finish for the Toyota team.
The brothers and the rest of the field will be hoping this year's national championships will be more successful than the last two, with COVID-19 keeping it to two rounds in 2021 and one in 2020.
Round two of the championships takes place in May in Western Australia, before the remaining five rounds jump around the other states.
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Isobel Cootes
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
Sports reporter at The Canberra Times. A Novocastrian with a passion for football (or soccer as they call it in the capital) via The Examiner and The Port Lincoln Times.
