Last time the ARC was in Tassie

There has been lots of change since Tasmania last hosted the RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Championship in 2019.

However one thing that hasn’t changed is Harry Bates and John McCarthy being the dominant force of the championship – the duo have won every ARC round since the start of 2019.

Ahead of the ARC’s return to the island for this weekend’s Shannons Rally Launceston, rally.com.au looks back at the last time the event took place.

Split into two Heats, the event started with a special stage on the Friday evening before a bumper 10-stage schedule on the Saturday.

While there would have been multiple crews hopeful of some success for the weekend – Bates and McCarthy quickly shot down those hopes, charging out to a lead of more than 30 seconds after the first six stages.

In second place was Bates’ biggest challenger, 2016 ARC champion Molly Taylor and Malcolm Read – the duo almost one minute ahead of Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin in third.

The leading Toyota Yaris AP4 would go on to dominate the field for the rest of the day, with Harry eventually winning the heat by just short of one and half minutes.

Lewis improved ever-so slightly but still had no answers for Taylor, who finished second, despite going faster on two of the day’s final three stages.

With the event also hosting a round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, the top three ARC crews also enjoyed a top three finish in the international component.

There were plenty of high-profile drivers to have a hard time during the heat, most notably Richie Dalton and the returning former ARC champion in Simon Evans.

Both drivers showed good pace at times throughout the heat, however they had a issues on multiple stages and fell down the order.

One of the most impressive performances for the day though was undoubtedly local star Tim Auty, who steered his Mazda 323 GTR to fourth outright courtesy of a highly consistent day.

Top Five After Heat 1
Harry Bates/John McCarthy
Molly Taylor/Malcolm Read
Lewis Bates/Anthony McLoughlin
Timothy Auty/Jon Mitchell
Luke Anear/Steve Glenney

Heat 2 began much the same as Heat 1 with Harry claiming stage wins and Taylor fighting it out with Lewis for the second place – although this time, Evans was now in the mix.

The three-way battle was turned out to be quite enthralling with each enjoying the second fastest time on one of the opening three stages.

As a result Lewis took much less time to find rhythm during the second heat as opposed to the previous day, he ended up winning the duel between the three – between finishing the day in second place.

However only eight seconds separated he and Taylor at the conclusion of the Heat as Taylor’s second and third stage proved pivotal in her falling behind.

Despite having been off the pace in those two stages, she managed to claw her way back into the competition, going in the fourth and fifth.

Taylor’s improvement saw him ruin Harry’s run for a clean sweep of stage wins as she pipped the leader by eight tenths of a second on the final stage.

Evans had a stage to forget as he finished 30 seconds off Taylor on the final stage and was handed a two-minute penalty – although he still managed to edge out young Bodie Reading by 14 seconds.

To finish so close to Evans in the heat was a special moment for Reading, who had grown up idolising the multiple-time ARC champion.

Top Five After Heat 2
Harry Bates/John McCarthy
Lewis Bates/Anthony McLoughlin
Molly Taylor/Malcolm Read
Simon Evans/Bernie Webb
Bodie Reading/Mark Young

While Harry and McCarthy missed out on the clean sweep, they still took out the event, ahead of the second placed Taylor and Read and their Toyota teammates Lewis and McLoughlin.

Although Taylor and Lewis finished with the same amount of points, Taylor enjoyed a stage win and finished with a better outright time.

The same ARC podium also made up the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.

Finishing the event in fourth place was Anear and Glenney, who enjoyed a fifth place in Heat 1 and a sixth place in Heat 2.

Top Five Outright
Harry Bates/John McCarthy
Molly Taylor/Malcolm Read
Lewis Bates/Anthony McLoughlin
Luke Anear/Steve Glenney
Timothy Auty/Jon Mitchell