Local favourite Neal Bates has started his bid for category honours in Rally Australia in ideal fashion, topping the times in the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) shakedown this morning.
Four-time national rally champion Bates and co-driver Coral Taylor finished the morning ahead of their more-fancied international rivals and three-time Asia-Pacific Rally Champion, Australian Cody Crocker.
Bates and Taylor set a time of 1m43.0s around the testing course which featured a mixture of corners representative of the 35 stages being used for this weekend’s Down Under round of the World Rally Championship (WRC).
The result highlights the competitiveness of the Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Corolla S2000 which is competing for the first time in a world championship event.
Competitive action commences tonight with two Super Special Stages at Murwillumbah, south-west of Tweed Heads before crews head into the forest tomorrow for the first full day of action.
Neal Bates, Toyota Corolla S2000 – Car #60:
“We had a great run this morning in shakedown and the car is set-up well to handle the conditions. The shakedown stage included a mix of fast and slow corners and two jumps so it gave us a good chance to get a feel for the Corolla in all conditions. The entire team is looking forward to the event and I can’t wait for tonight’s Super Special Stage, the crowd should be huge.”
Fans of NBM can keep up with the action from Rally Australia at www.carsguide.com.au or www.youtube.com/nealbatesmotorsport or on Twitter @Toyota_Aus.
Neal Bates Motorsport is running Rally Australia with support from Toyota, Carsguide.com.au, the Melanoma Foundation and MySpace Music.
Toyota and Neal Bates Motorsport is happy to assist the Melanoma Institute of Australia (MIA) to promote the risks of skin cancer as part of National Shades Day on Saturday, 5 September. National Shades Day is a day dedicated to a day dedicated to raising awareness of melanoma and skin cancer, in particular among 13-39 year olds who are most at risk.
Established in 2007, the MIA was set up as an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to research into melanoma to ensure that better treatments are discovered, with the ultimate aim of developing a cure for the disease. The MIA is the next stage of the development of the Sydney Melanoma Unit and a world leader in melanoma research.