HARRY BATES TO RUN FATHERS LIVERY IN TOYOTA 86 RACING SERIES
Toyota 86 Racing Series to have own retro flavour at Sandown – Photo: Supplied
The Toyota 86 Racing Series will have its own retro flavour when it takes to Sandown Raceway this weekend.
Second generation rally driver Harry Bates will trade gravel for tarmac to compete this weekend as one of Toyota’s invited drivers, running a special livery for the event.
Bates will drive an 86 wrapped in the livery made famous by his father, Neal Bates and his formidable 1990s Group A ST205 Celica GT-Four.
Bates will be joined by Leanne Tander as the second invited driver in the Sandown round of the Toyota 86 Racing Series.
Harry and Neal Bates
Bates said although it will be completely different to the gravel and dirt tracks and occasional sealed roads he was used to competing on, he relished the challenge of racing in the one-make support series for the Supercars event.
“Dad made his name in rallying and so it was natural that I would enter that field but he has always been a very versatile driver, having competed in circuit racing in Supercars and at Bathurst many times,” said Bates.
“I had my first experience in circuit racing in the 86 last year at Sydney Motorsport Park and while some of the skills needed are different, particularly in the really tight wheel-to-wheel action of the 86s, I am really looking forward to having another go.
“It’s a highly competitive series and I managed a best result of 11th in Sydney, so I’ll be hoping to improve on that. I’m really looking forward to competing in dad’s old Celica livery – the car will look really great.”
Neal Bates and his long-term co-driver Coral Taylor drove the iconic 2.0-litre turbo all-wheel drive GT-Four to victory in the Australian Rally Championship (ARC) for three years running between 1993 and 1995.
His first win in ’93 was in the ST185 Celica before winning the two subsequent years in the ST205, along with the epic Targa Tasmania tarmac rally in 1995.
He sold the ST205 in 1997 when he switched to driving the WRC Corolla but recently bought it back, rebuilt it and drove it to victory in the Modern Classic category in last year’s Adelaide Rally tarmac event in December.
Neal Bates maintains a significant involvement in racing with Neal Bates Motorsport (NBM) providing all the technical support for the 86 Racing Series, in addition to running the Harry’s Toyota Yaris AP4 and younger brother Lewis’ Corolla S2000 in the ARC.
Tim Brook who leads the series and dominated all three races in the second outing in Townsville will be hoping to find his winning ways again after the last three races at The Bend in SA saw three first-time winners atop the podium – James Wilkins, Nic Carroll and 15-year-old Broc Feeney.
Also hoping to be high in the points finishes will be Luke King who is only 26 points behind Brook in second place overall and “Mr Consistent” Cameron Crick who trails by a further 30 points in third.
Toyota 86 Racing Series Top 10
1. Tim Brook 730 points
2. Luke King 704 points
3. Cameron Crick 674 points
4. Cam Walton 646 points
5. Jaylyn Robotham 588 points
6. Broc Feeney 574 points
7. James Wilkins 560 points
8. Jake Klein 542 points
9. George Gutierrez 520 points
10. Dylan Thomas 516 points
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