There was no brotherly love in the race to the finish line at the Rally of Canberra.
Harry Bates and co-driver Coral Taylor claimed the title at Kowen Forest after 12 thrilling stages over the weekend, which also saw them win the Australia Rally Championship in the season-ending race.
It was a phenomenal achievement as Bates' brother and Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Lewis actually led the championship standings by 23 points, and held a three-second advantage after Saturday with co-driver Anthony McLoughlin.
On Saturday a final stage spin cost Bates and Taylor the lead, but a sharper effort on Sunday saw them surge ahead for an unforgettable come-from-behind race and championship victory.
"It's difficult to describe the intensity of it all, but to have pulled it all off feels extremely special," Harry Bates, the defending ARC champion, told The Canberra Times.
"It's been a total rollercoaster of a weekend, and the battle between Lewis and I went down to the absolute last stage."
More than 50 crews took part in the Rally of Canberra where 181 competitive kilometres were raced across the two days.
Harry Bates and Taylor finished atop the overall Rally of Canberra standings with a time of 2:01.03, just six seconds ahead of Lewis Bates and McLoughlin. Skoda Fabia R5's Eddie Maguire and Zak Brakey were a further 2:02.5 minutes behind in third.
"Obviously Lewis is disappointed, but also, I think he's happy for me," Harry Bates said.
"One of us was always going to win, and one of us was always going to lose, and we both wanted it really badly. I'm a bit relieved at this point.
"Lewis probably had his best rally ever this weekend, and that really forced Coral and I to go to a new level in the car.
"It was a final stage shootout, and I came out on top, but I don't know if I want to go back and do all that again - too stressful."
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Melanie Dinjaski
Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL, and has experience in print, digital, podcasting, TV and video journalism, having spent time working in newsrooms at Nine, Fox Sports and Seven before moving to the capital. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know - have a story worth sharing? Get in touch!
Melanie Dinjaski is an experienced sports journalist at the Canberra Times with a genuine love of all sports. She's covered every code from NRL to NFL, and has experience in print, digital, podcasting, TV and video journalism, having spent time working in newsrooms at Nine, Fox Sports and Seven before moving to the capital. Melanie aims to bring Canberrans all the sports news they need to know - have a story worth sharing? Get in touch!
