New Zealand rally stars Hayden Paddon and John Kennard have been crowned champions of Australia for the very first time in Tasmania while Harry Bates and Coral Taylor picked up the Buckby Motors Rally Tasmania victory.
Having led the EROAD Australian Rally Championship (ARC) standings for the majority of the 2025 season, Paddon and Kennard did what they needed to do in Burnie to seal the title with a cautious season-ending approach, seeing them finish in third place despite some late mechanical dramas.
Post-race, Paddon dedicated the championship to his countryman, the late Possum Bourne. An eight-time Australian Rally Champion, Paddon says that Bourne’s rally feats in Australia and around the world was his inspiration to compete in rallying.
The third-place finish for Paddon and Kennard capped off what has been an almost perfect debut season in the championship for the New Zealand duo, claiming four of the six rounds.
As for Bates, it’s been a frustrating year for the three-time ARC champion, however a faultless weekend behind the wheel of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 handed him his first win of the season – a victory that saw him continue his remarkable streak of winning an ARC event every year since 2016.
Second place for the weekend was Bates’ Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia teammates Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin, with the pair finishing the 14-stage rally XX seconds behind.
From the moment they took the outright lead on Saturday, Harry and Taylor never looked back as they charged away from the rest of the field during Sunday’s six stages, producing strong stages – four of which they won – including the Power Stage.
Pedder and Macneall got off to the strongest start – their recovery run continuing on Sunday morning with a victory on the opening stage before a second place behind Harry and Taylor on the day’s next stage.
That same stage saw the event’s first major incident when Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney had a rollover midway through. The pair walked away from the incident with no injury, however their Hyundai i20N Rally2 sustained big damage, forcing the pair out of the rally.
The event was again turned on its head on the next stage when Pedder and Macneall had a huge off and crashed out of the event. Fortunately, they walked away from the incident unharmed.
Before the Victorians’ scary moment midway through the stage, Harry and Taylor had gone fastest for the second stage in a row and extended the gap slightly to Paddon and Macneall.
Lewis and McLoughlin ended up winning the fourth stage of the day before Harry and Taylor ended the event with two consecutive stage wins and the Power Stage win – earning a well deserved victory.
In the lead up to the final stage of the season, Paddon’s Hyundai sustained a blown shock which saw him drop behind Lewis and McLoughlin, however the Kiwi nursed the car home to become champion.
Paddon wasn’t the only EROAD Australian Rally Championship champion to be decided this weekend, with Buckby Motors Rally Tasmania WOLF Production Cup winners Bodie Reading and Brad Jones sealing the title after dominating the Cup.
Finishing more than seven minutes ahead of the next best driver in the Cup, Reading managed to end the event sixth outright, with returning Richie Dalton and Mac Kierans fourth overall and debutant Emma Gilmour and her stand-in co-driver Ben Searcy rounding out the top five.
ARC Junior Cup champion Jackson Long finished in seventh place outright and won the Subaru WRX Challenge as a result, however it was the ninth placed Glenn Brinkman who ended up winning the class title following his class runner-up. WRX Challenge rival Andy Van Kann’s co-driver Catherine Saayman claimed the co-driver title for the Cup.
Splitting the two Subaru WRX Challenge crews for the event were Ben Newman and Adam Kudra who placed second in the WOLF Production Cup for the rally.
Rising star Jaidyn Gluskie just missed out on a top 10 finish, but he managed to come away with top honours for the class, while sister and regular co-driver Lucy was crowned co-driver Junior Cup Champion, despite not partaking in the final event.
Making up the final place in the Buckby Motors Rally Tasmania top 10 were ARC 2WD Cup winners Tony Sullens and Kaylie Newell, while Shane and Sylvie Garner survived a couple of scares throughout the event to claim the ARC 4WD Classic Cup for both the event and the year.
Outside of the event, there were multiple ARC Cups to be crowned champions with Tony Oates claiming the ARC 2WD Classic Cup for Drivers, with West Australian Caleb Ash taking the co-driver title.
The EROAD Australian Rally Championship will now have a six month break before the 2026 season begins in Gympie for Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland on 17-19 April.
QUOTES
Hayden Paddon
2025 EROAD Australian Rally Champion Driver
“Probably the slowest way we’ve ever won a championship, but we did what we had to do – not just today, but all year,” Paddon said.
“Obviously this was the goal for the whole year. The work the team has done away from home, we couldn’t have done it without them.
“And although it hasn’t been the best way to finish the season, we did all the hard work during the year, so a huge credit to everyone who helped us, supported us, John and the car.
“A lot of this is for Possum. He was the inspiration over the last couple of years to keep going and to come over and do something he really dominated. It’s pretty cool.
“We’re so lucky to have so much support. It’s the same support we get around the world and across the ditch here. It’s great that Kiwis embrace this rally championship as well.
“Honestly, I’ve loved it over here. Everyone’s been so welcoming. The rallies have brought new challenges for us, and the competition with the Bates brothers, Scott and Alex, has been great. We’ve loved that.
“We’ve done it on a shoestring budget, despite what people might think — it’s been a pretty tight budget. So it’s cool to tick it off the list, and something cool to add to John’s and my CV, and keep building on everything we’ve been doing around the world.”
John Kennard
2025 EROAD Australian Rally Champion Driver
“It’s really cool to win the title. It’s great to come to a new championship and do well, especially against a field that is really competitive and at events that are really well run,” said Kennard.
“We really paced ourselves this weekend. We had a good title lead and as we were going through, we wanted to push, but there was too much to risk. We had a good buffer, so we didn’t want to risk it.
“I can tell you though, it was still quite stressful!
“This is my 20th year as Hayden’s co-driver, so I think it’s really cool that after all these years, we’re still competitive and still winning championships together.”
Harry Bates
2025 Buckby Motors Rally Tasmania winner
“It’s really good to get the rally win,” said Bates.
“Well done to Hayden and John. They deserve the championship and have had an amazing year – it’s a big effort to come over from New Zealand to Australia to compete and they’re deserving champions.
“As for Coral and I in Tasmania, we had a good weekend – Winning the rally and clinching the manufacturers title.
“It’s been an up and down year for us, but the one thing that I can take away is that we’ve always had pace. Sure, I’ve made some mistakes and I’ve hated making them, but equally, we’ve learned a lot.
“if I can apply the learnings towards 2026, I hope we are back in the hunt for the title.”
