Two-horse battle in Gippsland
It is a two-horse fight for Rally Gippsland with Harry Bates and Scott Pedder neck and neck ahead of the final day.
The pair were in a league of their own, evenly sharing Saturday’s eight stages to set-up a thrilling finale for the third round of the Australian Rally Championship.
At the end of it all Bates emerged with a 12.3s advantage over Pedder coming into the deciding Sunday where another eight stages are up for grabs.
Both Lewis Bates (+1:35.9) and Alex Rullo (+1:42.3) remain in the picture for Gippsland Rally honours being less than two minutes adrift.
“Strong day, we had a good rhythm from the first stage and managed to stay in control,” Bates said.
“All-in-all, a very solid day. The car, Coral and everyone was really on their game today so it feels good.
“(Tomorrow is) a totally different day. Super technical stages, whereas today’s stages were quite fast, so we have quite a different thought pattern going into tomorrow.”
In the ultra-competitive MainFix ARC Production Cup, 2016 ARC Champion Molly Taylor and co-driver Andy Sarandis lead the way, ahead of 2023 Production Cup winners Bodie Reading and Mark Young.
In the Junior ARC Cup, Mitch Garrad and Taylah Murphy enjoyed a solid day out to hold the Gippsland Rally class lead heading into Sunday.
2WD ARC Cup honours are led by Nick Seymour and Matthew Whitten as they powered ahead in their Ford Fiesta.
For the 2WD Classic ARC Cup competitors, it was a tough day on the rough roads of Victoria.
James Leoncini and co-driver Mark Leoncini led the way throughout Sunday morning, before a mechanical failure on the day’s sixth stage saw them park up.
That gave Ivan Thompson and co-driver Lachlan Nordsvan the chance to power ahead and claim the Cup lead on Saturday.
The Subaru WRX Challenge one-make series was rolled out for the first time and Glenn Brinkman and Scott Beckwith currently hold a commanding lead in class.
The Gippsland Rally resumes just after 10am.
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