Rotorua youngster Sloan Cox has come away from the second round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, powered by Brother, Rally Wairarapa with a strong fourth place despite a particularly tough second day.
Cox and co-driving sister Tarryn came into the event off the back of a tough run at round one, but looking to continue the impressive pace shown. He immediately did so with a second fastest stage time to start the weekend, then a fourth on stage two to maintain his second place entering the first service.
The following loop of stages saw Cox continue to set a consistent top five pace, but the hectic pace at the front of the field saw him drop to fifth. However after the final service, Cox was straight back on the pace with a second, third and a first, collecting three bonus points for the power stage win, which rounded out the opening day. The strong afternoon meant Cox moved the Taslo Engineering Mitsubishi Evo 10 into third place overall, a mere one tenth of a second off the runner-up spot.
Day two started well when Cox set a time that was again second fastest and saw him move into second place for the rally. But the rally gods would have their way on the next stage when a flat tyre slowed progress, with more than a minute lost attempting to change the tyre before having to complete another 6km dragging the wheel.
Things got tougher on the days third stage with another flat tyre, this one firing the Cox pair off the road for a very scary moment. Luckily the pair hit nothing and were able to limp home, but had now dropped to fifth place.
The two punctures left Cox a long way behind his rivals he had previously been swapping tenths of seconds with, but a steady drive across the afternoon saw him move back up to fourth place and secure a third in class.
“Saturday was really good for us, winning the power stage was fantastic and we were in a great position for day two,” said Cox. “But then we had two rim failures and it really killed our chances. That’s rallying I guess.”
Press Release by BB Media
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