Rotorua youngster Sloan Cox will be looking to put a tough opening round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, powered by Brother, behind him when round two gets underway this weekend.
Cox started Rally Whangarei with high hopes, however a fuel injector failure on the opening stage meant any chance of fighting for victory was gone. When looking to salvage bonus points on day two, damage from day one lead to a full engine failure and fire, leaving Cox with just one point from the opening round.
Since that event, the Cox Motorsport team have been working flat out to repair the car in time for Rally Wairarapa, which runs this weekend, with the help of Myles Herbert from Driveline Automotive.
Last year, Cox and co-driving sister Tarryn took a career best result at Wairarapa, placing second on the opening day before sweeping the road as first car on the road for day two. The pair held on to secure third placed group N car in a thrilling battle and the pair will be looking to go even better in the Taslo Engineering Mitsubishi Evo 10.
“The result at Whangarei was really disappointing for us, there was plenty of potential there but that’s rallying and we will be looking to make up for it at Wairarapa,” says Cox. “It was a great result for us last year and it was also a fantastic experience for us to run first on the road.”
Cox will start sixth on the road for the opening day of Rally Wairarapa, which could be an ideal road position if the road stays dry. After an autograph session on Friday night, Saturday sees the real action get underway with 129km of special stages including Te Parae road, which will be the ‘power stage’ for the event. Day two sees a further 110km of special stages before the finish at the Solway Park resort just after 3.30pm.
Press Release by BB Media
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