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Cody Crocker and Pirelli have dominated the opening round of the 2006 FIA Asia
Pacific Rally Championship held in Canberra last weekend.
Crocker, the three-time Australian Rally Champion, is contesting the
Asia-Pacific Championship for the first time after winning the last three
Australian Rally Championships.
Driving the latest 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI on Pirelli tyres, Crocker
easily won both legs of the exceptionally rough and hot event. In his own words:
“This is the perfect start for us: we are looking at a really hard event and
invariably the roads are some of the toughest we see during the season. The
Pirelli tyres stood up to the extreme conditions and gave me every chance to
keep ahead of the field. It was very demanding in the heat today: a good taste
of what we can expect in many of the events scheduled for the rest of the
Championship."
Crocker won seven out of the eight stages on Saturday and a further six out
of nine on Sunday to win the Subaru Rally of Canberra title for the second year
in a row.
New team member Eli Evans, competing in his first event with the team,
delivered a very impressive second place in his Impreza.
"Using the latest evolutions of the KM hard and medium compound tyres gave
Cody and Eli the necessary levels of grip to easily dominate the event," said
Pirelli's Motorsport Manager, Simon Pool. "This event presents a high risk of
puncture from large rocks and stones but both Cody and Eli had no such problem
and fully demonstrated the strength and durability of our PZero Rally product."
The team has opted to miss the second round in New Caledonia and contest the
third round of the Asia-Pacific Championship in Rotorua, New Zealand, from May
26 to 28.
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