Lewis Bates and Anthony McLoughlin put on a strong showing at the 2026 Australian Rally Championship (ARC) Copyworld Adelaide Hills Rally to finish second overall in their GR Yaris Rally2, behind eventual winners Hayden Paddon and John Kennard.

Lewis and Anthony have excelled in the Adelaide Hills Rally in previous years, winning the past three outings on the roads around Mt Barker.

TGRA teammates and reigning ARC champions Harry Bates and Coral Taylor started the weekend strongly with three stage wins out of the first six on Saturday, before a crash on stage 7 led to radiator damage which frustratingly finished their day early.

Lewis and Anthony built momentum late on Saturday with victories in stage 7, 9 and 10 to finish the day in second place, 20.7 seconds behind Paddon and Kennard.

That momentum was carried over on Sunday with another strong showing, including victories in stage 16 and the power stage, stage 18, with Harry and Coral trailing narrowly behind.

Lewis and Anthony finished the Sunday stages to be just 31.2 seconds behind Paddon and Kennard, securing second place and keeping them in the running for the ARC title with one round remaining.

Following overnight repairs across their GR Yaris Rally2 including to the, Harry and Coral were able to race on Sunday but struggled to find pace over the day.

Nevertheless, they were able to secure fourth place on Sunday which gave them an overall placing of ninth for the weekend.

With only one round remaining in the 2026 ARC season, Lewis and Anthony are placed second in the overall championship standings, with Harry and Coral one place behind in third.

The final round of the year will see competitors heading south for Rally Tasmania in Burnie, taking place from November 7-9.

 

ADELAIDE HILLS RALLY RESULTS:

HEAT 1:

2^nd: Lewis Bates DNF: Harry Bates

HEAT 2:

2^nd: Lewis Bates 4^th: Harry Bates

OVERALL:

2^nd: Lewis Bates 9^th: Harry Bates

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

1^st: Hayden Paddon & John Kennard, 470 2^nd: Lewis Bates & Anthony McLoughlin, 385 3^rd: Harry Bates & Coral Taylor, 321 4^th: Alex Rullo & Steve Glenney, 269 5^th: Clayton Hoy & Erin Kelly, 173