The start list for round three of the CAMS Australian Rally Championship (ARC) has been revealed, with some familiar faces to line up at the Netier National Capital Rally in June.
Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame member Coral Taylor will make a highly anticipated return to the co-driver’s seat, sitting alongside local Lewis Bates in their Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Corolla. Taylor replaces regular Dale Moscatt who will miss this round due to injury.
Current championship leader Eli Evans and co-driver Ben Searcy are confirmed starters, again lining up in the super quick Skoda Fabia R5 – the car they drove to victory at Western Australia’s Make Smoking History Forest Rally.
Adrian Coppin and Erin Kelly will also take to the roads of the nation’s capital in their Skoda Fabia R5, looking to shine in Coppin’s home town and bounce back from unfortunate mechanical issues in round two.
With Neal Bates Motorsport’s home base also in Canberra, Harry Bates and John McCarthy will be looking to put in a strong showing in their Toyota Yaris AP4 and claw back valuable points lost after a rollover crushed their chances at the Forest Rally.
The Netier National Capital Rally will also welcome former ARC competitors and brothers Marcus and Scott Walkem. The pair make their return to the ARC a Race Torque Engineering prepared Peugeot 208 AP4, their first ARC appearance since crashing out of the 2017 Forest Rally.
The Netier National Capital Rally also doubles as a round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, with some of the Asia Pacific’s best drivers set to take on the roads of Canberra, including Cusco Racing’s Mike Young and Scott Beckwith in a Toyota Vitz (Yaris) RC2, teammates Yuya Sumiyama and Takahiro Yasui who will pilot a familiar Skoda Fabia R5 as well as Fabio Friserio and Jordi Barrabes Costa, lining up in a Peugeot 208 AP4.
Thanks to approval from FIA and CAMS, the event will combine the ARPC and ARC fields into one event, meaning that for the first time all ARC competitors will be able to fight for overall victory. It also means ARC competitors are eligible to score points in the Wurth Cup and will receive a selection of Wurth products as a part of entry.
The final ARC and APRC entry list can be found here.
A full entry list, including those to compete in the Mike Bell Trophy will be announced soon once entries for that event are closed.
