April 19, 2026

Harry Bates and Coral Taylor win Rally Queensland following dominant Heat 2 victory

Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia’s Harry Bates and Coral Taylor officially kicked off their 2026 campaign with an outright victory on Sunday after claiming Heat 2 of Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland.


The pair picked up where they left off from Saturday to win six of Sunday’s seven stages and charge out to a 17-second Heat win over Scott Pedder and Glenn Macneall in the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, while Bates and Taylor’s Toyota teammates Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin finished the day in third place.


Sunday proved an almost faultless performance from Harry and Taylor, who, despite starting third on the road, showed no signs of issues in the dust as they won all four of the morning stages to go into the midday service with a 21-second lead over Pedders Racing Team, protected by Famous Insurance’s Pedder and Macneall.


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While Pedder and Macneall bounced back nicely straight after the break to reduce the gap to just over 15 seconds, Harry and Taylor found another gear and won the final two stages, including the Power Stage.


With all three crews finishing in the same positions on Saturday, they ultimately ended up on the outright podium in an unchanged order – with Harry and Taylor also enjoying maximum bonus points after winning the Power Stage on Sunday afternoon .

“It was a really strong start to the season, two heat wins, a Power Stage win, and the Power Stage win. We felt comfortable in the car from the beginning, and especially today we were able to push on and build a solid lead this morning, which was great. So yeah, very happy,


“It’s definitely exciting to get that first win on the board for the year and now focus on the rest of the season. If you look at the ARC, it’s so important to keep collecting points along the way, and we’ve taken almost maximum points this weekend. That’s a great feeling to start the season, and our pace looks promising for what’s ahead.


“It’s a good confidence boost for next week. I’m heading to Portugal next week for a WRC round, then coming straight back for Rally WA – so three rallies in five weeks, which is pretty cool.” Harry said.


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