For multiple Australian and Asia-Pacific Rally Champion Cody Crocker 2010 was an extremely lean year. A new year though and fresh opportunities have presented themselves, Crocker confirming a limited Asia-Pacific campaign followed on with an all-out assault on the Malaysian Rally Championship.
“Last year was definitely tough,” admitted Crocker. “It’s hard after so many years competing continuously to suddenly find, through no fault of your own, that everything has dried up.”
After dominating the Australian Rally Championship during the mid-2000’s, Crocker headed overseas to the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) following Subaru Australia’s withdrawal from local competition. Driving for both Les Walkden Rallying and then the MotorImage Rally Team, Crocker went on to claim a record four straight APRC titles, eclipsing mentor Possum Bourne’s three titles in the process.
“The global financial crisis played a heavy hand last year. You hear about really successful footy players struggling when they finally retire from playing, and I kind of know how that feels after last year. But I’ve been trying as hard as possible to get back competing this year and it looks like things are looking up,” said Crocker.
The Victorian will line up alongside former MotorImage team mate Rifat Sungkar at Cusco Racing for two Rounds of the APRC, the International Rally Queensland and Rally New Zealand.
“The team are really eager to develop their Subaru Impreza as well as ensure they score the maximum team points available from these two events. Hopefully, if this year goes well there may be an option to do a full campaign next year.”
CODY JOINS PENNZOIL GSR
Australian reigning Champion and 4 times Asia Pacific Rally Champion (APRC), Cody Crocker has joined team Pennzoil GSR for the 2011 season of the Malaysian Rally Championship.
39 year old Crocker, is the only driver that has successfully defended the Asia Pacific Rally Championship title 4 consecutive times; including career wins of 34 outright and 24 wins in APRC events under his belt. He will be driving a Subaru Impreza STI Version 10 in this years Malaysian Rally Championship and will also represent the team for Malaysian Rally 2011 (MR 11) Asia Pacific Round in Johor .
Encik Ruslan Abdul Ghani General Manager from UMW Pennzoil Distributors Malaysia Sdn Bhd announced that he is thrilled that Cody has joined the team and proudly declares that currently Pennzoil GSR Rally Team has 2 of the best Asian drivers and 2 top FIA seeded drivers.
Encik Ruslan revealed that Pennzoil GSR Racing Team is continuously taking constructive efforts to improve the standard of rallying in Malaysia. “In our next plan, we shall be aiming to develop young Malaysian rally talents and our junior team, to be top level rally drivers in Asia and maybe even internationally” he added.
Encik Ruslan affirmed that Cody shall also be involved in training the junior Malaysian rally drivers along with Katsuhiko Taguchi who joined Pennzoil GSR Rally team last year.
