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.[1]
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 Motor Sport.
| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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
| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
