Cunningham to rally new Fiesta in NZRC

New Zealander Clinton Cunningham will pilot a four-wheel drive Ford Fiesta in the 2017 NZRC.

The car’s WRC bodyshell was constructed by Cars4U Custom in Europe and arrived in New Zealand in October 2016 as a bare shell.

The rest of the car and componentry is being built to current NZRC 1 and Motorsport New Zealand regulations at the team’s base, headed by CCR team manager Craig Kellington.

The car will be ready for its first scheduled test outing in February, which will conclude 250km of testing over the course of the weekend at the team’s 8km home test track’ just north of Auckland City.

The car will then compete in April at the Otago Rally, round one of the National Championship.

Joining the team for 2017 in the co-driver’s seat is arguably the most experienced and one of the best in the business’ Raymond (Crunch) Bennett.

“There are some big changes for next year with exiting the Mitsubishi and moving to the Ford Fiesta. Things are very exciting in the team,” Cunningham said.

“The entire team is motivated to have this car ready for 2017, and for me, I think it’s a really cool looking car and amazingly exciting time to be part of the NZRC.”

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