Category:

Motorsport

Rev up your passion for motorsport with our adrenaline-pumping coverage. Get the latest updates on Formula 1, NASCAR, MotoGP, and more. Immerse yourself in the world of high-speed thrills, cutting-edge technology, and fierce competition. From race highlights to driver insights, we’ve got your need for speed covered. Stay in the driver’s seat of motorsport action with our expertly curated content.

Motorsport

Christopher Bell made a sensation at Charlotte Roval 400, champion eliminated

by Admin

Christopher Bell scored an incredible victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday. With this victory, Bell secured a place among the eight drivers who will continue the fight for the championship title. Bell was not the fastest on the track, but he took advantage of the incidents at the end of the race to take a sensational victory. Before this race, Bell was as much as 45 points below the zone where there were eight drivers potentially continuing the championship fight.

“Man, you’ve just got to be there at the end of these things,” “I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. No secret that road courses have not been our strength this year”. “We were just there at the right time. We obviously weren’t in position to win (before taking tires). We rolled the dice, gambled, and it paid off for us.”

Kyle Larson, the guy who won the title last year won’t have a chance to repeat the feat of the previous season after making too many mistakes throughout the season. Quite rightly, he was very disappointed after this race.

“I just made way too many mistakes all year long,” Larson said. “Made another one today. Ultimately cost us an opportunity to go chase another championship.“Just extremely mad at myself. I let the team down a number of times this year, and let them down in a big way today.”

Larson lacked only 2 points to pass among the top 8 drivers, but Chase Briscoe was placed in his place as the last driver in the further stage. Throughout the season, Larson struggled to find the right rhythm in a vehicle that had undergone changes compared to the previous season. Last season was fascinating because he achieved as many as 10 victories while this season he recorded only 2 triumphs.

“It’s been tough,” Larson said. “I mean, there’s been no real rhythm to it for me and our team, but we fought hard all year to get better. And we’re gonna continue to fight, continue to work hard to be better for the rest of the season as well as be more prepared for next year.”

In the end, Austin Cindric and Daniel Suarez were left without a place in the top 8, as they also had accidents in this race. Briscoe was out of the top 20 after the restart on lap 111, but in the end he achieved a placement which guaranted him the top 8.

“Yeah, man, what a wild day,” Briscoe said. “It took every bit of it there at the end. To be easily in, then that debris caution comes out (on Lap 104). Still, I thought we had a really good shot of making it in. Get wrecked on the backstretch. Crazy at the end of these races, especially the road-course races, how much can change so quickly”.

Bell almost certainly would not have won if a whole series of incidents had not happened at the end of the race and with a good strategy he reached a big victory. Those developments helped him find his place among the top 8 drivers who continue to fight for the title next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

Watkins Glen: Larson scores second straight win, Raikkonen retires in Nascar debut

by Admin

Kyle Larson claimed victory in a thrilling race at Watkins Glen International that was delayed several times due to bad weather. It was the second straight win for the defending Nascar Cup Series champion and his 18th career win overall. In a dramatic finish, Larson made a great maneuver to pass Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. Despite ultimately finishing the race in fourth place, Elliott finished the regular season of the Nascar championship in first place, which he secured by winning the first place after the first stage at Watkins Glen.

After the race, Larson commented on a key maneuver in the race: “I knew that was my only opportunity to get by him. I feel like our cars were pretty equal today. Had a lot of fun after the green-flag cycle trying to chase him down. Kind of burned my stuff up a little bit.” But the restarts kept me in it and kept our team in it. I’m proud of my guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen and get some more bonus points going into the Playoffs, we haven’t had a lot here this year.” Elliot congratulated his teammate on the victory: “Congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the 5 team and at Hendrick Motorsports for getting the win.” AJ Allmendinger and Joey Logano finished the race ahead of Elliott.

The race at Watkins Glen was special because never before had a larger number of international drivers had the opportunity to compete in a single race within the Nascar Cup Series. At the aforementioned race, we had the opportunity to watch drivers from as many as seven countries. Most of the drivers are, quite logically, competitors from the USA. In addition, at Watkins Glen we had the opportunity to see drivers from Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Finland and England. This data shows that Nascar is becoming more and more popular outside the American continent from year to year. Of the international drivers at Watkins Glen, the best position was achieved by Daniel Suarez, who took fifth place.

The mentioned race, which is the penultimate in the regular part of the season, was marked by the debut of Kimi Raikkonen, the former world champion in F1. His debut performance in Nascar ended in ingloriously, although at one point the Finnish driver was among the top ten ranked drivers. Kimi started the race in the 27th position, and at one point he was occupying a high eighth position. Unfortunately, he ended the race prematurely by crashing into the guard rail. Regardless of the fact that he finished the race in the mentioned way, Raikkonen is satisfied with the new experience in his already rich racing career.

“Yeah, for sure, but it’s always hard to know especially now here like what states (of the pit) stop and you know the tire life on that,” he said. “I felt that we had very good speed and especially after the pit stops but maybe I was a bit too harsh on the tires on the one of the sets.”

The other internationals didn’t make a name for themselves at Watkins Glen either. The best place was achieved by the German driver, Mike Rockenfeller, who finished the race in 30th place. Dutchman Loris Hezemans was three positions lower. At the very back with Raikkonen were his former colleague from F1, Daniel Kvyat and the Englishman Kyle Tilley.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 Australian Superbike Championship Round 5 Review at Morgan Park Raceway Part 2: Premier Class

by Sports Benches

And we turn our attention to the premier class in Round 5 of the 2022 Australian Superbike Championship starting with Wayne Maxwell who was too good all along in Race 1, even though he was relieved to see off a late challenge from Mike Jones in the No.46 Yamaha.

Later in Race 2 though, there were so many lead changes that brings so much excitement. This time Jones was off to a flying start over the first half out of lap 16 before Maxwell regained the lead for a while. But then there was a new challenger up front in Troy Herfoss who set the fastest lap at this track in his No.17 Honda. Sadly, Herfoss’s extended run was short lived when his soft tire gamble didn’t keep him up there in 5th after a strong start in 3rd in Race 1. He has showed excellent form of late though with two podiums from last round in Darwin. 

So that leaves between Jones & Maxwell now for the win that went down the wire. Jones tried to hold off 1st on the last lap before Maxwell found the inside line at Dunlop Corner & took back first once more, as Maxwell capped off with back-to-back wins in the No.1 Ducati for the K-Tech Team. 

Jones was disappointed not to stop Maxwell’s outstanding spell when he didn’t have enough time to upsurge him in Race 1 before he lost the lead a few times during the 2nd half of Race 2. However, he’s still the championship leader & top quality rider nonetheless in the hope of wrapping up the title with two rounds left of the ASBK season. 

Plus, we give a few shoutouts starting with No.3 of Jed Metcher who never looked out of place just inside the Top 10 (9th in Race 1 & 10th in Race 3). The same goes to Anthony West after he rebounded from a Race 1 DNF in 8th during Race 2. And how about last year’s Supersport champ Broc Pearson after he finished back-to-back in 4th, especially when he was this close towards passing team-mate Bryan Staring in Race 2. He’s blessed to be given the opportunity by Troy Bayliss & Ben Henry at Desmosport Ducati where he took it with both hands from the 3rd row (7th) to just outside the Top 3. 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 Australian Superbike Championship Round 5 Review Part 1 at Morgan Park Raceway: Oceania Junior Cup, Supersport 300 & Supersport support categories

by Sports Benches

We start off with the Australian Superbike Championship support categories where we saw two thrilling finishes in Race 3 of the Oceania Junior Cup & Supersport 300. There were multiple front runners fighting for top spot, especially on the last lap as Cameron Rende & Cameron Swain both took home with the Oceania Junior Cup & Supersport 300 wins respectively.

Not only they both fired off from the second row on the grid (6th from Rende & 5th from Swain) but they had to be patient along the way before making made significant progress in the 2nd half run where they got what they wanted past the checkered flag in the last minute. What a ride by Cameron Rende who used the slipstream to surprise three other riders on the run home, such as Harrison Watts, Bodie Paige & Marcus Hamod in the Oceania Junior Cup. Although the 2nd Lap of 6 changed everything when Hudson Thompson tried to regain the lead off Paige & Harrison Watts in 3rd, but he was unfortunately slipped away into the grass that saw him end up with a DNF. 

We also saw another Cameron dominating over at the Supersport 300 in Cameron Swain after he edged Taiyo Asku by millimetres past the finish line which is sensational. It’s hard to look at from Asku who led the majority of this race, but it’s racing at the end of the day as he will take home 2nd & Jonathan Nahlous joins the two Yamahas in the No.20 Kawasaki bike who rounds the Top 3 with Asku & Swain.

Then we move over to the Supersport category with John Lytras being too good in Race 2. He may have lost the lead at the start straight away to Ty Lynch in 2nd, but got his position back not long later where he never looked back throughout the whole time up front. Plus, there was a brilliant four-way battle for 4th behind Tom Bramich when Tom Drane had a excellent show ahead of Scott Nicholson (5th), Rhys Belling (6th) & New Zealander Luca Durning (7th). So plenty of top-notch young talent being showcased from the weekend at Morgan Park Raceway in QLD.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD 5: Nathan Herne completes clean sweep in the Trans-Am while the Honda duo of Tony D’Alberto & Zac Soutar dominated yet again in Race 3 after Jay Hanson won Race 2 in the TCR Australia at Queensland Raceway

by Sports Benches

It’s good to see a mix of new front runners earlier today during Race 2 of TCR Australia, especially when Michael Caruso led for the majority from reverse pole in the No.10 Alfa Romeo Giuietta, after the original polesitter Lachlan Mineeff (No.14 MPC Audi RS3) had to start from pit lane. 

Sadly, a mechanical issue cost Caruso the win he desperately wanted to for Ashley Seward Motorsport which was a huge blow. That paves the way for Jay Hanson, who made plenty of spots through the field, before he chased down his Melbourne Performance Centre team-mate Will Brown in a battle of the best Audis (RS3) for the win. 

Then we move onto Race 3 where Hanson remained running inside the Top 3, but couldn’t get past both Hondas where they have dominated once again. Tony D’Alberto had an amazing weekend at Queensland Raceway with 2 of out 3 wins for Wall Racing ahead of Zac Soutar, who finished 2nd twice in both Race 1 from yesterday & Race 3 earlier this afternoon.

And there’s still a lot of thrills and spills being spun across the race track over in the Trans-Am. But what hasn’t changed is Nathan Herne controlling the entire grid after he completed a clean sweep all weekend long in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsports. 

Good to see his team-mate Owen Kelly rebound from the opening lap trouble in Race 1 yesterday with back-to-back third places today, while Jett Johnson never looked out of place in the Top 3-4. And Supercars regular Brodie Kostecki just completed his one-off stint in the No.66 Chevy Camaro here; he finished 6th earlier in Race 2 after a stellar start yesterday in 3rd during Race 1 before he added another podium this time in 2nd in Race 3. We wish Brodie all the best as we hope to see him fulfill his ambitions in the NASCAR Cup Series, even if it’s a partial ride effort next year.

What a weekend it has been at Queensland Raceway after three long years when they last hosted there before COVID got in the way. We can’t wait for Sandown Raceway in Melbourne on the 14-16th next month, with two rounds left in this year’s ARG SpeedSeries season.

For now, make sure you sign up a seven-day Stan Sport free trial right now on top of the usual $10 basic subscription to catch up every race live and ad-free alongside on-demand replays and highlights. It will also be another $10 for the Sports pack if you’re happy with their motorsports content such as IndyCar, Formula E, World Endurance Championship, World Rally Championship and Motocross beyond the seven days.

If not, Nine will continue to roll out a two-hour highlights package for free that looks back from this weekend’s event at Queensland Raceway. Tune in the following times on Thursday evening at 11pm-1am on 9Go, as well as Saturday 10am-12pm on 9Gem & next Sunday at 2-3.50 pm on 9Go.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 ARG SpeedSeries RD 5: Thrills and spills being played out in Race 1 yesterday at Queensland Raceway with the Trans-Am and TCR Australia where both winners were too good all along from start to finish

by Sports Benches

Yesterday afternoon of ARG SpeedSeries racing at Queensland Raceway was full of twists and turns, where losing control or being collected into the gravel can cost you a few spots or even dearly. It changed the course of these opening respective races with the Trans-Am & TCR Australia.

We’ll start with the TCRs and what a day it has been for Tony D’Alberto in the No.50 Honda Civic Type-R for Wall Racing. Not only he set and started pole position but he too took the opening race win which was too easy from start to finish. While Zac Soutar would’ve love to have a close sniff of Tony and challenge him for top spot, but he‘s happy to finish 2nd also in the same Honda car & hopefully go one better for the next two Sunday races.

And it’s good to see Jay Hanson back on the podium in 3rd for the Melbourne Performance Centre organisation, as well as Bailey Sweeny in 5th behind Aaron Cameron (No.18 Peugeot 308 for Garry Rogers Motorsport) following an opening lap scare through the grass that cost him a few spots. Although, Sweeny’s team-mate Nathan Morcom was unlucky to be taken out by Ben Bargwanna into the gravel.

Then we go into Trans-Am where we also saw another driver who was too good with Nathan Herne in the No.1 Ford Mustang for Garry Rogers Motorsport. He has no problems getting the job done from pole position to dominating the entire field, especially when some drivers behind him was collected through the gravel on the opening lap. While some slip and spills continue across the race track, it’s great to see 17-year-old Jett Johnson finish 2nd after he got around Supercars regular Brodie Kostecki in 3rd with credit from these restarts. So awesome seeing Brodie spend the weekend here as he hopes to fulfil his NASCAR aspirations over in the US next year, especially when he was being linked with Trackhouse Racing’s 3rd part-time Cup car that has a specific focus on International drivers.

Can’t wait for Races 2 & 3 later today with TCR & Trans-Am to round off Round 5 of 7 in the 2022 SpeedSeries season.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

Looking ahead to Round 5 of the 2022 ARG SpeedSeries season with TCR Australia & Trans-Am this weekend at Queensland Raceway following a two month break

by Sports Benches

It’s been a bit over two months when we last had SpeedSeries at Eastern Creek with the TCR Australia, Trans-Am & S5000. Although the main S5000 portion may be done, but SpeedSeries is back at Queensland Raceway (Ipswich) this weekend for Round 5 of 7 in the 2022 season.

There’s plenty of exciting headlines to look ahead when we’ve got a jam-packed Trans-Am grid of 29 cars alongside a couple of debutants from Tom Hayman (Aussie Racing Cars), Jack Sipp (Super2) & Brodie Kostecki (Supercars).

Plus, TCR Australia will make up their half-century milestone at 50 races during Race 2 this Sunday. And it has been a long time since the TCRs last raced there in QLD three years ago when the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID, while this track wasn’t selected out of the shortened five-race calendar last year.

This is one huge event you don’t wanna miss as Nine will once again put Race 1 of the Trans-Am & TCR Australia this Saturday afternoon on their free-to-air channels via 9Go (NSW/QLD/ACT/NT) or 9Gem (VIC/SA/WA), with the whole weekend’s activities being a Stan Sport exclusive. Then as usual, Nine will showcase a two-hour highlights package the following weekend (August 13-14) on 9Gem/9Go.

You can sign up to Stan Sport for a seven-day free trial right now to watch every race live, as well as, full event replays & highlights. It only costs $20 a month to keep your fix of motorsport at any time, anywhere within Australia, such as, Formula E, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, Motocross and many more.

I would love to watch another SpeedSeries race live on free-to-air, having watched the season opener earlier this year at Symmons Plains in Tasmania. But I will be leaning on Club Rugby with Shute Shield regular season finale at North Sydney Oval at the same time between Northern Suburbs v Eastern Suburbs; That game will be live on 9Gem in NSW and ACT as well.

I will continue to keep a close eye though on the SpeedSeries from QLD within the next few days, while the Rugby Championship with the Wallabies & Australian Superbike Championship are back on my sports viewing fix also this weekend.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 Australian Rally Championship: Interview with Troy Dowel on 2nd August 2022

by Sports Benches

Round 4 of the 2022 Australian Rally Championship season at Rally Queensland may have been called off two weekends ago on the 24-26th last month due to flooding over in Gympie, QLD at the time. But I’m delighted to catch up with one of the current drivers in this competition in Troy Dowel, who drives the No.4 Hyundai i20 RX with co-driver Bernie Webb for Proto Cars Australia.

1. How prepared were you heading to Gympie QLD before the Rally Queensland event was cancelled over the weekend beyond the organiser’s control?

We were feeling fairly prepared for gympie as we had competed in about half of the stages for this year’s event the previous year. However I believe one of the most important aspects of our preparations for Rally Queensland was the decent results we got back in Western Australia & Tasmania and being able to carry that momentum into the next round. 

2. .You & your co-driver Bernie Webb are currently sitting 4th in the Drivers’ Standings after 3 rounds, how good was it to bounce back from the opening round in ACT to potentially challenging the Bates brothers and Richie & Dale in the Shamrock car after back-to-back 4th placed finishes in WA & Launceston?

Yeah it was definitely a good feeling bouncing back from Canberra, it is all about building experience for us this year so it is nice for our pace to begin to get a little closer to the front runners however we still have a long way to go until we can start challenging them consistently but I believe we are definitely on the right path.     

3. Looking ahead to Rally Gippsland in a few weeks’ time, what are your favourite and not so favourite stages to tackle over in Victoria?

Most of the stages are pretty good in Victoria so I don’t think I really have any unfavourable stages, however my favourite stages to tackle in Victoria are definitely Yarra Valley stages such as Mt Slide.  

4. Now I don’t know if you follow the World Rally Championship or not, but what’s your favourite memories of Rally Australia growing up and whether or not if you will take part as a driver should the event return in 2023 or 2024?

My favourite memory of Rally Australia was when I made my rally debut in 2017, I had a lot of good memories from that event and even managed to get my first ARC stage win on a super special stage. I think if the event did return we would definitely take part. It is always a highlight of the year.  

5. And do you have any other rallying stints going on other than the ARC later this season and where do I keep up to date with your career on social media?

Yeah we do, we have the rally of the bay coming up very shortly. It is based around Batemans Bay and has some iconic stages. You can follow me on Facebook & Instagram under Troy Dowel. 

We thank Troy for his time to respond to a few questions on the Sports Benches blog. Good luck to him for the rest of the year with his Rallying activities, as you can catch Troy in action next Saturday for the Rally of the Bay at Batesmans Bay in Regional NSW before the ARC resumes for Round 5 of 7 on Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th August in Gippsland, VIC.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

2022 Australian Rally Championship Round 3 Rally Launceston Interview Recap with Dean Herridge

by Sports Benches

I had the pleasure to speak to Dean Herridge on the phone a few days ago when I went through the latest Australian Rally Championship round with him from last weekend at Rally Launceston in Tasmania.

We’ve talked about the following topics such as:

  • Irish luck with Shamrock Motorsport.
  • Lewis Bates’s remarkable recovery from the early Saturday heat rounds.
  • Hometown success from Tasmania’s own Eddie Maguire.
  • Coral Taylor’s one-off return to the co-driving role this time with Harry Bates.
  • And we round off a brief next round preview at Rally Queensland in a few weeks time on the 22nd-24th later this month. Plus, will anyone stop Harry at the moment with an outlook on his next career goals.

We also have a video version of my interview below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV1IBJRh1SU&feature=youtu.be
  1. Irish Luck with Shamrock Motorsport: They had a great weekend start on Saturday but luckily kept 2nd despite a poor Sunday run. What do you think of the duo (Richie Dalton & Dale Moscatt) right now?

Richie (Dalton) has back-to-back podiums, so in the past, we were joking about the Irish and his luck as he has been a bit unlucky in and around the series (Australian Rally Championship) for a long time. He stepped into various cars and now drives one of the ex-factory Toyotas – bringing in a generation to find some form. So, he moved with pretty good speed – probably similar to Lewis (Bates) at the moment. Their back-to-back podium finishes seem to have pleased them as well.

  1. How did Lewis Bates recover from that poor start on Saturday and then work his way back into the final podium spot in 3rd?

Yeah, what’s happening is more of our sprint rounds; we only have the heats, so someplace like Day 1 – you lock away points, and that’s your points for Saturday. Despite a dismal Saturday, they were lucky to get into the Top 4 thanks to a much better Sunday performance. They had to start back at zero on Sunday for Heat 2 stages.

Obviously, Harry went on to win again this time, followed by Lewis in 2nd. His (Lewis’s) points tally of a 2nd and a 4th is the same as Richie (Dalton) in the Shamrock car (Toyota Yaris). Richie had a really poor Sunday in comparison. They were equal on points; Richie ultimately gets 2nd on the podium through a countback- total time on the weekend. Points from Saturday and Sunday are added together to get the round result that we saw on the podium. Lewis was lucky to get on the podium despite having troubles with Heat 1 on Saturday.

Young Troy Dowel missed out by one point, so he got two-thirds which is a great result. But he was just one point away from being on the podium. As I said, a 2nd and a 4th are better than two-thirds in terms of how the points structure works, and that came about.

  1. Hometown hero: How did you react to the Tasmanian success story in none other than Eddie Maguire?

It’s not unusual because Eddie (Maguire) is an excellent driver. He won Targa Tasmania on the tarmac several times in one of those Dodge Vipers. He’s got a great pedigree and is a very talented driver; he doesn’t do as much on the main gravel rallying. So it was great to see some locals step up from their state series (Tasmanian Rally Championship), including the ARC (Australian Rally Championship) and the Hoosier Control Tyres. As you mentioned, he (Eddie) ended up being the top of the production class. It is not a surprise because the production cars are slightly older and heavier; they’re not expected to take on the likes of the Toyota and the R5 cars. But ultimately, Eddie’s a class act and did a great job as expected.

  1. I also saw you on the post-rally coverage with Coral Taylor on how she has her retro racing suit and hat on while she filled in the weekend as Harry Bates’s co-driver?

Obviously, she’s (Coral) not been competing. I’d use the word definitely, but she’s a legend of the sport (rallying in Australia). She’s been around for 30-plus years; She’s won four championships and also won Targa Tasmania with Neal Bates. They’re obviously the most winning combination in the Australian Rally Championship history with 29-round wins. She currently has 34-round wins herself – just one behind Possum Bourne.

She stepped in because Harry’s usual co-driver, John McCarthy, couldn’t be here due to contracting COVID in the lead-up. She was the fill-in co-driver brought in as someone who wasn’t effectively competing. Still, she was a highly experienced co-driver to step into the role. That was a great result for them as she won another round, and it was surprising that she had a current race suit on when she was just filling in.

She wasn’t entirely…well…the decision was made on Tuesday prior to the event (Rally Launceston) for that change (of co-driver role with Harry Bates). So, at the end of the day, the deputy (Coral) was there to get the pace notes sorted. Harry has different pace notes than everyone else; you have to learn them, get on board, do the reconnects on Thursday and Friday and then get in the car, and obviously, he’s top on pace. Coral did an outstanding job stepping in, and she’s as good as anyone to step in as a co-driver again.

  1. Can anyone stop Harry Bates and John McCarthy from winning in Rally Queensland in a few weeks’ time?

No, not that sort of problem. I don’t think so. I believe this is a challenging position – probably Eli Evans is as good as he goes. In Perth, he showed pace in that mini, but he has reliability issues. On speed, it’s only going to be someone like Eli Evans who can do it close. Otherwise, I think I spoke before of Richie’s (Dalton) naivety to be able to set a pace for each other; Other people who are pretty new to it are learning a little bit. So, I think they’ll have their issues and it will be tough to stop them (H. Bates & McCarthy), as you suggest.

The difficult part of Harry’s (Bates) now and career is that they will only likely win the Australian Rally Championship again. It will be his second title. It was a difficult period through COVID as we couldn’t crown a champion back in 2020 with a couple more on the line. Because he’s young, he should try and go overseas to find opportunities and fight; He needs the battles. Although he scored wins and dominated the ARC series at the start, you’re always learning.

The next phase is to learn how to win under pressure and fight for second place – at the moment, he’s not really under that pressure. For now, his career is all on winning the Australian Rally Championship, and many people would love to do that. But for sure, he would like to try and get that experience overseas. I believe that’s where he thinks about how good it can be in the long term, how it fits in with their Toyota deal, and his arrangements, funding, and the possibility of competing overseas to improve if he had the option to do so.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Motorsport

Harry Bates & Coral Taylor on top once again at Rally Launceston, even without his usual co-driver John McCarthy in Round 3 of the 2022 Australian Rally Championship

by Sports Benches

Harry Bates was too good once again at Rally Launceston in Tasmania after we just finished Round 3 of the 2022 Australian Rally Championship. It was a bit different though when his usual right-hand man John McCarthy was forced to sit out for a week due to a positive COVID test, so thankfully Coral Taylor was fortune to step into his place for this occasion. We love how Coral said during post-rally that she wore her retro racing apparel & hat as her good luck charm, while H.Bates smashed all 12 stages unchallenged from start to finish in the No.1 Toyota Yaris GR.

Finishing off P2 is the No.3 Shamrock Motorsports Yaris of Richie Dalton & Dale Moscatt. We love their strong start from Heat 1 Saturday that helped them work their way up into 2nd. Although they may have struggled a bit of consistency going into yesterday, but they pulled off well nonetheless.

Then we saw Harry’s brother Lewis finished 3rd with Anthony McLoughlin in the sister No.2 Yaris GR. They may have fired off slow earlier yesterday during Heat 1 but glad they caught up with ample time needed to get back into 4th going into Sunday – even though they had to settle for 2nd-3rd best in the final few stages.

4th place belongs to Troy Dowel & Bernie Webb in the No.4 Hyundai i20 for Proto Cars Australia. An early momentum build-up was important to stay ahead which is exactly what they wanted after Heat 1 Saturday. Although they couldn’t find a way to hold off L. Bates/A. McLoughlin going into today, but it’s still a treat to connect that execution past the final power stage.

And hats off to Eddie Maguire on his weekend at his hometown. Not only he topped the Top 5 but also won the Production Cup class in the No.7 Mitsubishi Evo 9 with Zak Brakey.

We can’t wait for Rally QLD on the 22nd-24th next month with four rounds left in the ARC schedule this year.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail