Motorsport: Team has car tuned for Rally Otago

Rotorua's Sloan Cox will race his Taslo Engineering Mitsubishi Evo X in Otago this weekend. Photo/Ben Hughes

After an impressive finish at Rally Whangarei, winning day two, Sarah Coatsworth and I are looking to continue that success at Rally Otago.

Round two of the New Zealand Rally Championships is being held this weekend.

The event is an iconic rally that attracts international drivers and, after missing the event last season, I am looking forward to getting back on to Otago's fast roads.

As the rally includes the long 42km and 50km stages, I have been putting emphasis on my fitness heading into this event, to ensure optimum concentration for these stages.

Rally Otago is an event that requires huge trust between a driver and co-driver and with the relationship Sarah and I are developing I have no doubt that we can achieve great results.

A lot of work has been completed by the whole Cox Motorsport team since the last event, thoroughly stripping the Taslo Engineering Mitsubishi Evo X to ensure there was no hidden damage after the Rally Whangarei slip up.

We have also worked hard on the car with numerous test days to rectify the problems with the brakes in the North.

It takes a lot out of your confidence when you have problems with your brakes. You are trying to push your car to the limits and you need to have confidence your car will stop when you need it to.

The action gets under way at 8am on Saturday and covers 286km of competitive stages over the two days of rallying.

I hope the team's preparation before the event will lead to a podium finish.

Sloan Cox is a Rotorua rally driver competing in the New Zealand Rally Championships.