No disgrace in second place for Cox

Rotorua rally driver Sloan Cox at this year's Leadfoot festival

Rotorua Rally driver Sloan Cox said there was no disgrace to finishing second at this year's Leadfoot festival - considering the winner was former World Rally Championship driver Alister McRae.

In the final shootout, McRae's time of 49.43 seconds was just enough to pip Cox who clocked 50.83 seconds in his Hill Climb Special Evo 8.

Cox said he was pleased with the result, but also disappointed to only go one better than last year's third place.

''With an event like Leadfoot, it all comes down to the last run and I just couldn't put that perfect run together - was good enough for second place and definitely a fast run there was just a little more I needed to beat him and I couldn't quite get it,'' said Cox.

A series of qualifying runs builds up to a final run shootout.

''[My final run] was just a little bit messy as I was pushing it hard to get the result.''

A few minor car problems on Saturday were ironed out in time for Sunday when the car ''ran faultlessly''.

''We had an awesome time. Second place is nothing to be sad about and the team's rapt about that - we came third last year, so next year we have to win so we'll put in more preparation and more work beforehand.''

Attention now turns to getting his Mitsubishi Evo 10 ready for the New Zealand Rally Championship that starts with the Otago Rally in April.