Neal Anthony Bates (born 19 March 1965) is an Australian rally and racing car driver. Throughout his career Bates has been associated with Toyota in the Australian Rally Championship and for 19 years his Neal Bates Motorsport outfit ran Toyota's official rally program in Australia. Bates claimed four drivers' titles in this time and helped Toyota win four manufacturers' crowns.
Bates' navigator/co-driver since 1993 has been Coral Taylor.
Bates long-time partnership with Toyota also brought the first of many circuit racing opportunities, a drive in a star search program in Toyota's Australian Touring Car Championship team. This led to a number of touring car racing opportunities with the factory Toyota Corolla teams as well as V8 Supercar teams including Paul Weel Racing, Glenn Seton Racing and Gibson Motorsport.
Career results Season Series Position Car Team 1991 World Rally Championship 56th Toyota Celica GT-Four Toyota Team Europe Australian Rally Championship 2nd Neal Bates Motorsport 1992 Australian Rally Championship 4th Toyota Celica GT-Four Neal Bates Motorsport 1993 World Rally Championship 45th Toyota Celica GT-Four Neal Bates Motorsport Australian Rally Championship 1st 1994 Australian Rally Championship 1st Toyota Celica GT-Four Neal Bates Motorsport 1995 World Rally Championship 27th Toyota Celica GT-Four Neal Bates Motorsport Australian Rally Championship 1st 1996 Australian Rally Championship 2nd Toyota Celica GT-Four Neal Bates Motorsport 1997 World Rally Championship 26th Toyota Corolla WRC Neal Bates Motorsport Australian Rally Championship 3rd Australian Super Touring Championship 13th Toyota Camry Phoenix Motorsport Australian GT Production Car Championship 13th Porsche 993 RSCS 1998 Australian Rally Championship 2nd Toyota Corolla WRC Neal Bates Motorsport 1999 Australian Rally Championship 2nd Toyota Corolla WRC Neal Bates Motorsport V8 Supercar Championship Series 31st Ford AU Falcon Ford Tickford Racing 2000 Australian Rally Championship 2nd Toyota Corolla WRC Neal Bates Motorsport 2001 Australian Rally Championship 2nd Toyota Corolla WRC Neal Bates Motorsport Australian Nations Cup Championship 13th Porsche 996 GT3 Tekno Autosports 2002 V8 Supercar Championship Series 43rd Ford AU Falcon 00 Motorsport 2003 Australian Rally Championship 8th Toyota Corolla Sportivo Turbo Neal Bates Motorsport V8 Supercar Championship Series 65th Ford AU Falcon ICS Team Ford 2004 Australian Rally Championship 6th Toyota Corolla Sportivo Turbo Neal Bates Motorsport 2005 Australian Rally Championship 6th Toyota Corolla Sportivo Turbo Neal Bates Motorsport 2006 Australian Rally Championship 2nd Toyota Corolla Sportivo Turbo Neal Bates Motorsport 2007 Australian Rally Championship 2nd Toyota Corolla S2000 Neal Bates Motorsport 2008 Australian Rally Championship 1st Toyota Corolla S2000 Neal Bates Motorsport 2009 Australian Rally Championship 3rd Toyota Corolla S2000 Neal Bates Motorsport 2012 Australian Classic Rally Championship 1st Toyota Celica Neal Bates Motorsport
WRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points 1990 Toyota Team Australia Toyota Celica 2000 GT MON POR KEN FRA GRC NZL ARG FIN AUS26 ITA CIV GBR NC 0 1991 Toyota Team Europe Toyota Celica GT-Four MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRC NZL ARG FIN AUS ITA CIV ESP GBR 56th 2 1993 Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE ARG NZL FIN AUS ITA ESP GBR 45th 3 1995 Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Celica GT-Four MON SWE POR FRA NZL AUS ESP GBR 27th 2 1996 Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Celica GT-Four SWE KEN IDN ARG FIN AUS ITA ESP NC 0 1997 Toyota Castrol Team Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN IDN ITA 27th 1 Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Celica GT-Four AUS GBR 1998 Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN ITA AUS GBR NC 0 1999 Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWE KEN POR ESP FRA ARG GRE NZL FIN CHN ITA AUS GBR NC 0 2000 Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWE KEN POR ESP ARG GRE NZL FIN CYP FRA ITA AUS GBR NC 0 2001 Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Corolla WRC MON SWE POR ESP ARG CYP GRE KEN FIN NZL ITA FRA AUS GBR NC 0 2009 Neal Bates Motorsport Toyota Corolla TRD S2000 IRE NOR CYP POR ARG ITA GRE POL FIN AUS ESP GBR NC 0
Complete Bathurst 1000 results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps 1989 Toyota Team Australia Mike Dowson Toyota Corolla FX-GT C 141 17th 1st 1990 Toyota Team Australia John Faulkner Toyota Corolla FX-GT C 59 DNF DNF 1991 Toyota Team Australia Rick Bates Toyota Corolla FX-GT 3 76 DNF DNF 1992 Toyota Team Australia Rick Bates Toyota Corolla FX-GT B 125 24th 3rd 1993 Caltex CXT Racing Team John Smith Toyota Corolla Seca B 113 DNF DNF 1997* Phoenix Motorsport Mark Adderton Toyota Camry - 64 DNF DNF 1998 Paul Weel Racing Paul Weel Ford EL Falcon OC 155 9th 9th 1999 Glenn Seton Racing Geoff Brabham Ford AU Falcon - 159 10th 10th 2000 Ford Tickford Racing Wayne Gardner Ford AU Falcon - 45 DNF DNF 2002 Gibson Motorsport Rodney Forbes Ford AU Falcon - 159 14th 14th 2003 ICS Team Ford Rick Bates Ford AU Falcon - 62 DNF DNF
* Super Touring race
Complete Sandown endurance results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps 1989 Toyota Team Australia Mike Dowson Toyota Corolla FX-GT A 142 11th 2nd 1990 Toyota Team Australia John Faulkner Toyota Corolla FX-GT V8 85 DNF DNF 1998 Paul Weel Racing Paul Weel Ford EL Falcon OC 122 DNF DNF 2001 Tekno Autosports Steve Webb Porsche 996 GT3 N 161 2nd 2nd 2003 ICS Team Ford Rick Bates Ford AU Falcon - 136 25th 25th
Complete Bathurst/Eastern Creek 12 Hour results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps 1991 Neal Bates Motorsport Rick Bates Geoff Morgan Toyota Celica B 214 17th 1st 1992 Mountain Motorsport Geoffrey Full Geoffrey Forshaw Toyota Supra T 212 34th 5th 1993 Peter Whitaker Peter Whitaker Calvin Gardner Toyota MR2 S 240 9th 2nd 1994 Neal Bates Motorsport Juan Manuel Fangio II Rick Bates Toyota MR2 S 249 4th 1st 1995 Rick Bates John Ribeiro Peter Dane PRB Clubman S 240 20th 1st 2007 Colin Osborne Colin Osborne John Roecken Toyota Celica SX E 240 11th 1st 2008 Colin Osborne Colin Osborne John Roecken Toyota Celica E 234 11th 1st 2009 Colin Osborne Colin Osborne John Roecken Toyota Celica ZR F 172 DNF DNF
References
External links Neal Bates website WRC Results (eWRC)