Cox eyes junior title at Wairarapa

Rotorua’s Sloan Cox has his eyes on the prize when the final round of the New Zealand Rally Championship, Rally Wairarapa, gets underway on September 11th-12th.

Cox currently holds an 11 point lead in the Junior section of the NZRC, but his three closest rivals are driving less powerful two-wheel-drive cars, making the 18-year old the strong favourite to take out the title.

“It would mean a lot to wrap up the junior title and it would give us the opportunity to focus on other areas next year,” says Cox.

The Wairarapa event has been kind to Cox in the past. In 2007, Sloan, along with sister Tarryn in the co-drivers seat, made their NZRC debut.

At the previous round of the championship, when the car performed well, Cox showed strong pace, but unfortunately the result the teenager deserved was not forthcoming. The team however are hoping to carry this pace at Wairarapa with car reliability to seal the junior title.

Last weekend the Cox Motorsport team had a relaxed test day treating sponsors to thrilling rides to remember for fathers day.

Rally Wairarapa gets underway with a ceremonial start at the Solway Park Copthorne resort at 6pm on Friday 10 September. The following day, cars tackle six stages, including two new stages south of Masterton before returning to the traditional roads north of the host city. Day two offers a further eight stages around the Eketahuna service park before a ceremonial finish at Solway Park at around 3.30pm.