Everything new for Dalton for 2021 rally season

A new rally season means a new rally car for Shamrock Motorsport’s Richie Dalton and Dale Moscatt.

The Sydney-based duo will pilot a Toyota Yaris AP4 for the 2021 season, the car that won the Australian Rally Championship with Harry Bates in 2019.

The team will contest the full Australian Rally Championship season this year, but will start getting to grips with the car this weekend when the enter the Blue Range Rallysprint, near Canberra.

“We only had a small test in the car after we purchased it last November, so this weekend’s rallysprint will be the ideal preparation before the National Capital Rally at the end of March,” Dalton said.

“The rally includes two stages run four times each, which means it will be a proper test for Dale and I.”

The car will be run this year by Neal Bates Motorsport, and while a full test session had been planned for some time this month, Dalton believes the rallysprint provides a better option.

“When you’re using the same piece of road on a test you get to know it really well and it can become a bit pointless after a while,” he added.

“By competing in the rallysprint it means we have to get back into the swing of reading the road, writing pace notes and then driving to them. I think it will be the perfect preparation for the first ARC round.”

The title-winning Yaris AP4 has been stripped and fully rebuilt since last season, and will appear resplendent in the striking white and green Shamrock Motorsport colours this year.

The Blue Range Rallysprint will run this Saturday, March 6.