Rotorua’s Sloan Cox is aiming for a podium finish to start his New Zealand Rally Championship campaign when the series gets underway with Rally Whangarei this weekend.
Cox enters his fourth season of competition in the Taslo Engineering-backed Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 after several strong showings during last year’s championship, including a career best second place on the opening leg of Rally Wairarapa.
In the off season, the team have been testing as well as competing in the New Zealand Hill Climb championship in which Cox won every leg while keeping his hand in over the off-season.
After a shakedown run last weekend at the Whariti Peak Rallysprint, Cox and co-driving sister Tarryn will look to open their NZRC campaign on a positive note. The pair are excited and looking forward to a rewarding season after developing their speed last year, combined with some positive changes during the off-season.
Rally Whangarei also doubles as the opening round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, which means that the brother-sister pair will not only take on New Zealand’s best, but also three former factory rally drivers in higher specification Super 2000 cars. Even with the quality of field, Cox is aiming to set top stage times to run in the front bunch of NZRC competitors and near to the front-runners in the APRC.
“I can’t wait to get on the gravel at Whangarei,” says 20-year old Cox. “Over the off season we have put in plenty of mileage and I’m confident that we can put in a strong performance.”
This year’s Rally Whangarei gets underway with a ceremonial start on Friday March 30, with all the action commencing the following day. Eight special stages will make up day one with a total of 160km of special stages south of Whangarei. Day two sees a further eight special stages over 123km before the ceremonial finish, including the final stage of the rally which will be a power stage for NZRC competitors with bonus points on offer. Updates from the team throughout the week will be available at www.coxmotorsport.blogspot.com.
Press Release by BB Media
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