Harry and Lewis Bates to contest ARC title with turbocharged GR Toyota Yaris AP4

Neal Bates Motorsport will spend the summer building two GR Toyota Yaris AP4 rally cars in Hume, with siblings Harry and Lewis Bates to campaign them this season.

The 10-month project has been worked in collaboration with Toyota's Product Planning and Development division, who designed and fabricated the body's exterior styling.

The new generation car is similar to Toyota Gazoo Racing's former AP4 Yaris which won 12 rally events, with the key difference being it's three cylinder, 1.6-litre turbo engine.

"What excites me about this one is that ultimately it'll be an evolution of our current car and that's exciting in itself," Bates said.

"We developed the current car to where it is today and proved it can be a championship winner - already we've been driving the fastest rally cars the country has ever seen.

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"This car will be an evolution of the current one and driving that will be exciting. Being out on the stages, running it, and trying to race stage records will be amazing, it'll be a really quick car."

The Neal Bates Motorsport crew has been working on the body shells and preparing them for the roll cages to be fitted, with one of the two car shells nearly complete.

Testing is expected to begin in late February, with Bates saying the rally car is on track to be ready in time for the ARC series opener in Canberra the following month.

"It's going well at the moment. On this project, you almost always come across hurdles and whatever but so far - touch wood - no hurdles," he said.

"It's looking on track but without a doubt the guys at Neal Bates Motorsport will be pulling some massive hours in the months of January and February.

"I think this project is different to some in that we had a bit more time to prepare and organise ourselves. We're ticking boxes and it's feeling like we'll achieve them and be ready for the rally - but for sure there's still a lot to do until then."

The Peter Brock medallist aims to claim a consecutive championship this season but expects a tough field with the likes of Hayden Paddon competing.

Paddon, a former World Rally Championship driver, confirmed last month he would enter the National Capital Rally in a Walken Motorsport prepared Hyundai i20 R5.

The Kiwi star could target the full ARC series but is yet to confirm his plans.

"It will be very exciting and make it tough for me to win because he's probably one of the top five drivers in the world," Bates said.

"But having said that, I would absolutely love the challenge of having someone like that to push me along."

Neal Bates Motorsport will run three cars in this year's ARC, having sold Harry's championship-winning Yaris AP4 to Shamrock Motorsport - with Richie Dalton and Dale Moscatt to drive the Canberra-built rally car.

"I'm sure he'll love racing my old car," Bates smiled.

The National Capital Rally will take place in the forests surrounding Canberra from March 26 - 28.