RallySport Magazine April 2017

REPORT: EUREKA RALLY - ARC 1
Harry Bates went some way to
erasing the disappointment
of last year’s Australian Rally
Championship loss by taking victory in
the opening round of the season, the
Eureka Rally at Ballarat.
Driving the same Toyota Corolla
Super 2000 as last year, Bates and John
McCarthy finished the weekend on 70
points, two ahead of Coffs Harbour’s
Nathan Quinn, and three clear of
Victorian Eli Evans.
Current champion, Molly Taylor,
finished the weekend in fifth place in a
new Production Rally Car-spec Subaru
WRX STI.
PRE-EVENT
There was much excitement leading
up to the Eureka Rally, with Eli Evans
set to debut his brand new Mini Cooper
AP4.
Photos of the car on social media
had rally fans salivating at the prospect
of seeing the machine in action, but it
wasn’t to be.
Computer problems just two days
before the rally proved unfixable in the
timeframe allowed, and Evans initially
looked like he could miss the event
altogether.
Meanwhile, Arron Windus’ failed
British Rally Championship plans saw
him put in a late entry in the ex-Mark
Pedder Peugeot 208 Maxi. The car
needed to be towed from Perth to
Ballarat before the event, only arriving
around 11am on the day before the
first stage.
Then, when Evans’ problems
emerged, his team rapidly did a deal
which
saw the three-time Australian
Champion lining up in the Peugeot, and
Windus taking the reins of the spare
Subaru of Craig Brooks.
Despite the late dramas, both drivers
recorded impressive results over the
course of the weekend.
HEAT 1
With a brand new event comes brand
new stages, and day one of the Eureka
Rally saw five stages, each to be run
twice, in the morning and then again
after a service break back in Ballarat.
Dry and dusty conditions were to
provide a challenge for competitors,
particularly those running a little
further down the running order.
Combined
with that, drivers in the ARC field
were using the new MRF control
tyres for the first time, meaning
that car set-up and slightly different
handling characteristics needed to be
conquered.
A close battle throughout the day
would finish in favour of Harry Bates
and John McCarthy in their Toyota
Corolla S2000, as they finished 14.8
seconds clear of the Mitsubishi Lancer
of Nathan Quinn and Dave Calder.
Quinn had Bates’ measure for much
of the day, but turbo problems on
the final two stages saw him drop 22
seconds, giving Bates the first Heat win
Nathan Quinn showed his
class yet again with a fast,
clean drive.
(Photo: John Doutch)
16 | RALLYSPORT MAGAZINE - APRIL 2017