When Lewis Bates’ regular CAMS Australian Rally Championship co-driver Dale Moscatt was unavailable for the Netier National Capital Rally, it left the youngster with a big hole to fill.
However a likely candidate to fill the all-important co-driver spot was only a phone call away.
Without hesitation, Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame inductee Coral Taylor stepped into the spare seat alongside Bates, with the famous Taylor/Bates partnership rekindled, a pairting that saw so much success in the 1990s, including many Australian titles.
The news that one of Australia’s most experienced co-drivers would make a return to competition created a buzz around the ARC’s third round in the country’s capital.
Taylor was right at home at the National Capital Rally, competing in the very same Toyota Corolla S2000 that she and Neal Bates won their fourth and final Australian Rally Championship in 2008.
Unfortunately, Taylor’s return was short-lived, the pair retiring on just the second stage of the event when the S2000 broke an oil line and suffered engine damage, the result of a heavy landing after a jump.
Despite the brief stint, rally fans enjoyed the sentiment of seeing one of Australia’s most successful rally figures back in action and the revival of the Bates/Taylor partnership on the side of a Toyota rally car.
