Young Australian Adrian Coppin’s chances of winning his class at the World Rally Championship round held in Coffs Harbour at the weekend slipped way due to a mechanical problem. Coppin was powerless to chase the class leader due to a slipping clutch in his FSport Fiesta ST and he could only watch as precious seconds slipped away due to the problem.

A strong drive in treacherous conditions on Friday positioned the young Canberran to challenge for the class win despite the onset of the clutch problem.  His service crew replaced the clutch at the service on Friday night, but the problem reoccurred on the Saturday stages.  Despite the problems, Coppin pressed on and closed the gap to the class leader before a 1 minute penalty, applied by the organisers for exceeding his time limit on the Friday service, gave the leader a comfortable gap.

“Despite the time penalty, I thought my pace was good enough to close the gap but unfortunately the clutch problem reoccurred today and I couldn’t mount a strong challenge,” Coppin said. “But despite the problems, I set some competitive times, so I am really pleased with the outcome,” Coppin added.

Team owner, John Mills was also very pleased with the result.

“We came along to gain some experience so to finish our first WRC event is fantastic.  I don’t underestimate how hard this is to achieve.”

Coppin was observed deep in conversation with several European crews at the post event function.

Coppin would like to thank his co-driver, service crew and sponsors, FSport, Integrating Technology, Total Traction Services, Shannons and Better Bathrooms for providing him the opportunity to compete in the event.

Coppin’s  next outing in the car will be in a round of the NSW Championship, the National Capital Rally, to be held in Canberra in late October.

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