Neal Bates Motorsport has endured a tough start to proceedings in the season-ending Rally SA after rain churned up the soft dirt roads of Mount Crawford Forest which held the pre-event top 10 shootout and shakedown.

Reigning Australian Rally Champion Neal Bates and co-driver Coral Taylor finished third in the shootout that was won by title rivals and former team-mates, Simon and Sue Evans.

Bates and Taylor enjoyed a strong test session on Tuesday and were quick during their practice runs on the 2.4-kilometre shootout stage, but the four-time champion admitted his timed run in the shootout was far from perfect.

The rain-soaked roads deteriorated quickly due to persistent rain, meaning crews will have a tough task this weekend to post consistent stage times.

Rally SA gets underway tonight with two runs around the popular Angaston Oval Super Special Stage where a large crowd is expected to turn out to watch the opening battle for the title race that sees Bates and Taylor trail the Evans duo by a mere eight points.

The all-tarmac stage has been a happy hunting ground for tarmac expert Bates who admitted the rain would make the conditions very tricky.

Neal Bates - Car #1:

"I didn't do the perfect run and to end up third is a little disappointing. The car was fine, but the roads were quite wet and churned up quickly. I did very well on the first run, however the more they churned up, the more I struggled. I progressively got slower each run which was basically due to the road condition. The shootout was a great introduction to the Friday program and created a lot of interest - they should have it at every event. Hopefully it is going to dry up a bit and I am looking forward to the tarmac stages at Angaston tonight, although it will be very tricky if it is wet. It is going to be really hard when we hit the forests tomorrow as everyone is going to be on it from the word go."

Australian Rally Championship
Rally SA
Pedders 'No Bull' Shootout
1) Simon Evans - Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 1m39.2
2) Eli Evans - Subaru Impreza WRX +0.7s
3) Neal Bates - NBM Corolla S2000 +1.3