2025 Arc Season Heats Up Following Thrilling Forest Rally in WA

Harry Bates and Coral Taylor pushed hard over the weekend to secure a second-place finish.

A tightly fought Forest Rally in Western Australia over the weekend saw TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Australia’s (TGRA) Harry Bates and Coral Taylor achieve a second-placed finish, while a consistent performance from Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin ensured they retained their overall lead in the 2025 Australian Rally Championship (ARC) season.

The second round of the season saw Harry and Coral finish on the podium behind New Zealand ex-WRC alumni Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, who finished strongly in Sunday’s Heat 2 after being hampered by vehicle troubles and a penalty in Heat 1 on Saturday.

Harry and Coral finished just 5.4 seconds behind Paddon and Kennard in Heat 2, winning Stage 9 and remarkably scoring a dead heat on Stage 10.

Lewis and Anthony contributed strong performances across the weekend, finishing third in Heat 1 as car one, and only just missed out on an overall podium finish after a recount. The performance was enough for the pair to retain their lead in the 2025 ARC driver’s and co-driver's championships following their maiden victory at the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally of Canberra in March.

Harry Bates quote: "It was a really strong day, probably one of our best actually even though we didn’t come away with the win. To be second behind the European Rally Champion and in front of the Junior World Rally Champion, it’s pretty cool. I’m proud that we were able to show our class a little bit, and we were very close to getting the heat win so that’s something to work on for the rest of the year.”

Lewis Bates quote: “We were reasonably happy, we were able to score some OK championship points this weekend. The power stage was a bit frustrating because it was a bit messy from me and it would have been nice to get a few more points but that’s how it goes.”

Toyota also featured on the winner’s list, taking out the manufacturer's win for the round.

The third round of the ARC season sees competitors travel to Gympie for Rally Queensland from July 4-6.

FOREST RALLY RESULTS:

HEAT 1:

3rd: Lewis Bates

5th: Harry Bates

HEAT 2:

2nd: Harry Bates

4th: Lewis Bates

OVERALL:

2nd: Harry Bates

4th: Lewis Bates