The Notable Narratives of the Adelaide Hills Rally

The fifth round of the 2025 EROAD Australian Rally Championship (ARC) season has officially arrived, with all eyes in the rally community on the Copyworld Adelaide Hills Rally.

As the title fight edges ever closer to a conclusion, and some familiar names making some changes, there are plenty of big talking points ahead of the penultimate round of the season.

Can Paddon and Kennard win the title

The short answer is yes. Hayden Paddon can win the EROAD Australian Rally Championship title at this weekend’s Copyworld Adelaide Hills Rally, but he would need a little to go his way.

As it stands, there are still a max of 220 points available in the championship – 110 being the most that can be gained this weekend as a result of the Sprint format, where 50 points are given to the winner of both Heats and the extra 10 bonus points for taking out the Power Stage.

Paddon and co-driver John Kennard currently sit 71 points ahead of Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin, while Harry Bates and Coral Taylor sit a further 17 points adrift in third.

To win the title this weekend, the New Zealand duo need to add 40 points to their buffer over the Toyota GR Yaris of Lewis and McLoughlin, while extending their gap over Harry and Taylor by 23 points.

Of course, there are a number of outcomes to occur, but with 40 points on offer for second place and 35 for third place per Heat, Paddon can clinch the title with a big weekend – a double Heat win plus the Power Stage, or a Heat win and a second place – provided Lewis finishes low enough to keep the 40-point gap and Harry stays 23 points behind.

If Paddon clean sweeps the weekend, then Lewis can’t finish lower than third in either Heat or the Power Stage, while Harry will be out of contention regardless of whether he finishes second in all.

Put simply, the Bates brothers need to get Heat wins if the title fight is to continue to the final round of the season.

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Kings of SA

If Paddon and Kennard would be widely considered the favourites to take out the title this weekend, then Lewis and McLoughlin have to be considered the next best chance to win the event.

While Harry Bates and Coral Taylor have won the past two ARC titles, Lewis and McLoughlin have undoubtedly been kings of SA in recent times with three consecutive victories. If they win this year, then it will be four-in-a-row and one of the most dominant displays at a single event for a while.

If there was one time Lewis needed to step up this season – this weekend is it. And what better place to prevent Paddon from securing the title than doing it at an event that has been kind to him. To have any chance of staying in title contention, the 2022 ARC champion will need to secure a fourth win here.

Toby Price and Jackson Long Stepping Up

While Toby Price and Jackson Long will have no impact on the title, there is certainly a lot of interest in both of them this weekend as a result of upgrading vehicles.

Price is a household name in Australian motorsport and has been enjoying a steady run since making his debut earlier this year in the Subaru WRX Challenge. This weekend though, the Queenslander will step into Glenn Brinkman’s Mitsubishi EVO and contest the WOLF Production Cup.

While there may not be a huge array of competition for him in the Subaru WRX Challenge, going up against the likes of Clayton Hoy and Bodie Reading will give ARC fans a true indication of his progress.

Long has been one of the shining lights of the 2025 season – the first-year driver having dominated the ARC Junior Cup and scored a number of impressive outright results, while also leading the WOLF Production Cup after four rounds.

This weekend though, he steps into a much better car to contest the Subaru WRX Challenge, and although he might not be worrying too much about his results per se, his outright position for the weekend will be the most interesting aspect of the round.

Price step up adds interest to WOLF Cup

Although Long leads the way in the WOLF Production Cup, he will likely fall behind this weekend as a result of Hoy and Reading having run one less event than the teenager.

The battle of the title is very much between the two titans, although Hoy is in the box seat despite having retired early from Gippsland’s endurance round.

Reading will need another big result this weekend in Adelaide if he is to push the Production Cup to the final round, with Hoy not requiring much more to get the win done.

However, with Price entering the fray this weekend, along with Danny Traverso also entering, there might be some intriguing narratives that occur in the Cup and some points taken away from the two contenders.