Rotorua driver Sloan Cox will go into this year's New Zealand Rally Championship campaign fit and with an entirely refreshed car.
The off season has been busy for the Cox Motorsport team as they stripped the Taslo Engineering Mitsubishi Evo X down to a shell and rebuilt from the groundup adding a few surprising and exciting additions.
The whole Cox Motorsport team have been focused on the goals they set together at the end of last season, based around reliability and consistency for the season to come.
"We decided at the end of last year's season that the Evo X needed a complete refresh to eliminate the faults that had been holding us back," Cox said.
Cox will again be paired with local co-driver Sarah Coatsworth. Their preparation coming into this season has made great strides towards the team's goal of being race fit and ready for the opening round of the New Zealand Rally Championship this weekend.
The first of the six rounds kicks off a bit far from home for the team with Rally Otago being based out of Dunedin, but finishes in their backyard with the last round being held in Tauranga November 24.
"Otago Rally is known to be a hard and fast round that will test us and everybody else. I am more focused than ever this season, and looking forward to starting the first round," Cox said.
The action starts at 5pm on Friday with a motorsport show and drivers' signing session at the Dunedin Octagon. Over the two days of rallying, the team will tackle 292km over 14 stages which will be predominantly south of Dunedin with the famous Tarmac Super Special Stage on Saturday about 5pm. The event finishes at 3pm on Sunday at the Dunedin Railway Station.
