Tough Rally NZ for Cox

Tough Rally NZ for Cox

Rotorua pair Sloan and Tarryn Cox have had a tough run at the fourth round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, powered by Brother, Brother Rally New Zealand, with three retirements from three days of rallying.

Day one of the event, which was also round seven of the World Rally Championship, saw stages based around the Raglan area and Cox was immediately on the pace, despite running the cheaper but less powerful fuel that put him at a disadvantage from the beginning. Even with the handicap, 20-year old Sloan sat third overall at the mid-day service.

Then, on the second pass through the infamous Whaanga coast stage, Cox experienced gearbox problems and with still more than 60 kilometres of racing remaining for the day, the team made the tough decision to retire for the day.

With the Cox Motorsport team restoring the Taslo Engineering Mitsubishi Evo 10 to full health overnight, Cox looked to attack the stages around Whangarei on day two but just two kilometres into stage nine, the opening stage of the day, a small mistake saw a rear suspension arm bend, then on the following stage the arm broke completely. Despite the best efforts of Sloan and Tarryn to effect roadside repairs, again retirement was forced upon the pair.

Looking for a trouble free final day, Cox started well with a fourth and third fastest time on the opening two stages of the day, however on the tarmac super special stage, a badly positioned official’s car led to a bizzare accident in which Cox retired, having crashed without actually leaving the road.

“It was a really frustrating weekend for us,” said Sloan. “I’m pretty happy with some of our times, especially with us using the cheaper fuel, but Sunday’s retirement was really frustrating.”

The Cox Motorsport team now turn their focus to the final round of the New Zealand Rally Championship, Rally Gisborne, on August 25-26.

ENDS

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