Adrian Coppin has his sights firmly set on the opening two rounds of the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship, following on from the reshuffle at Team Citroen Australia.
“2014 was a great learning year for me,” said Coppin. “My attention now is on taking all those lessons and putting them to good use in 2015, and committing to the first two events is a big step in the right direction.”
Having finished on the podium in Canberra, Western Australia and Coffs Harbour, and in the process securing third outright in the Australian Rally Championship, Coppin says he was determined to be back again in 2015 to put the knowledge and experience he gained to good use.
“I can’t wait to get back to WA for the Quit Forest Rally for the first round. The roads are a real challenge, and having made it onto the podium alongside Scott (Pedder) and Brendan (Reeves) earlier this year, I’m really excited to put the Citroen DS3 through its paces again with a year’s worth of experience behind me.”
“And then my home event in Canberra is a must for me, to be able to drive in front of my family, friends, sponsors and supporters is a very special feeling, and I’m hopeful of being able to produce a similar podium result again.”
2015 will see Coppin return to running under his own team name, Innate Motorsport, and the Canberran driver sees it as an opportunity to reassert his own style.
“I’m focused on making 2015 an even better year, and returning to running my own team again is a big step towards that goal. “We had a good year running under the Team Citroen Australia banner alongside Tony Sullens, but they went in one direction and I wanted to go in another,” Coppin explained.
“Having Eli (Evans) in a Citroen is great for the brand, and if anything, it gives me the chance to benchmark myself in an identical car against an Australian Champion.”
Having contested a couple of events in Europe in recent years, including an outing at the German round of the World Rally Championship this season, Coppin admitted that he is still actively pursuing overseas options to pair with his Australian Championship outings.
“As a driver I want to be continually testing myself, and progressing onwards and upwards. Competing in Europe, especially this past year in Germany, helped me massively as a driver and it’s those sorts of events I want to be chasing in addition to the ARC,” he added.
“I don’t have any firm plans for overseas in 2015 at this stage, but I’m working on a number of exciting options that I’m confident will come through once we get into the New Year.”