A jubilant Steve Cox and co-driver Laurie Brenssell raced home to victory at the 2022 Otago Rally, winning the Classic 4WD category at the weekend.
A faultless drive from the pairing gave them a commanding 8min 40sec victory in their Subaru Impreza
H6. Amy Keighley and Nikita Gibson overcame problems on day one in their Subaru to finish second, ahead of Tom Milliken third and Simon Bell fourth, Nigel Ede fifth and Chris Lockyear sixth.
Cox said, “This win is my second outright rally victory, having won the Far North Classic Rally in our Toyota Starlet in 2000. I am over the moon, the Magnum Motorsport Subaru H6 ran really well. We did however have a scare on Saturday in the penultimate stage.”
They were in second place to Nick Marston at the end of Day 1, however Marston had engine failure on the first stage on Day 2, handing the rally lead to the F40 Motorsport duo, who carried on their winning way for the remaining stages.
Cox said “We were keen to have a real go in the final stage of the event, the famous Kuri Bush Special Stage, however common sense prevailed, and we elected to take a more cautious approach and were two seconds slower than our 2021 time in our 1300cc Toyota Starlet.”
Cox was incredibly happy with Magnum Motorsport leased H6 Subaru and heaped praise on the team’s effort, “My co driver Laurie Brenssell did a brilliant job on the stage notes and the work by the Magnum Motorsport service crew which included two of our own guys looking after the car making sure it was at optimum all event.”
After Cox’s debut in the 6 Hours of Bathurst over Easter, it is then just a short break before the team heads to Rally Whangarei for the second round of the New Zealand Rally Championship.
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