Cody Crocker | |
---|---|
Nationality | Australian |
Born | Victoria, Australia | 18 October 1971
Asia-Pacific Rally Championship | |
Years active | 2006–2009 |
Teams | Les Walkden Rallying Motor Image Rally Team |
Wins | 24 |
Best finish | 1st in 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009 |
Previous series | |
1997-2005 | Australian Rally Championship |
Championship titles | |
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 | Australian Rally Championship Australian Rally Championship Australian Rally Championship A-Pac Rally Championship A-Pac Rally Championship A-Pac Rally Championship A-Pac Rally Championship |
Cody Crocker (born 18 October 1971) is an Australian rally and racing car driver. Crocker won seven titles between 2003 and 2009 and with 24 wins and four consecutive championships is the most successful driver in the history of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. [1]
Crocker was discovered in the mid-1990s, winning a junior development title run by Australian Rallysport News (now www.rallysportmag.com) in 1994, coupled with runner up in the Victorian Rally Championship. For the 1997 season Crocker acquired a second-hand Subaru Legacy and finished eighth in the Australian Rally Championship. Part of his $15,000 prize package included entry into Rally Australia, Australia's round of the World Rally Championship, based in Perth, WA.
In 1998 Crocker joined Possum Bourne's team, Subaru Rally Team Australia as the team's Number 2 driver and driver of the team's Group N Impreza while Bourne drove the team's World Rally Car. The following year Crocker broke through to his first ARC victory at the Rally of Melbourne. [2] Crocker continued as Bourne's backup until Bourne's death in a traffic accident in early 2003. The team rallied around Crocker who won the Forest Rally and Rally of Queensland on his way to winning his first Australian Rally Championship. [2] Two more titles followed, making ten consecutive for the team. Subaru withdrew from rallying at the end of the 2005 season.
Crocker linked up with long-time ARC rivals Les Walkden Rallying with support from Subaru to take on the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship which he won in his debut season despite competing on many of the rallies for the first time. Since then Crocker has remained undefeated in the APRC even while changing teams. Furthermore, Crocker has had his name assigned to a limited number of Australian market generation IV Liberty/Legacy Spec-B GT turbo models.
Peter "Possum" Raymond George Bourne was a champion New Zealand rally car driver. He died under non-competitive circumstances while driving on a public road that was to be the track for an upcoming race.
Christopher James Atkinson is a professional rally driver. In the World Rally Championship (WRC), Atkinson drove for the Subaru World Rally Team between 2004 and 2008. His best finish on an individual WRC event is second, which he achieved at the 2008 Rally México and Rally Argentina. Other podium placings include third-place finishes at the 2005 Rally Japan and the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally.
Velappan Rajendran Naren Kumar is a seven-time Indian National Rally Championship Champion and two-time runner-up and Asia Zone Champion from Coimbatore, India.
The Motorsport Australia Rally Championship, also commonly known as the Australian Rally Championship (ARC), is Australia's premier gravel rally competition. A multi-event national championship has been held each year since 1968, excepting 2020.
The Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) is an international rally championship organized by the FIA encompassing rounds in Asia and Oceania. Group N cars dominated the championship for many years but in recent years cars built to R5 and S2000 regulations have tended to be the frontrunners.
The Subaru World Rally Team (SWRT) was Subaru's World Rally Championship (WRC) team. It used a distinctive blue with yellow colour scheme that is a throwback to the sponsorship deal with State Express 555, a BAT cigarette brand popular in Asia. 555 logos were found on Subaru cars from 1993 to 2003, although less prevalent since 1999 due to BAT's participation in Formula One with British American Racing. Subaru's WRC efforts date back to 1980, however, in 1989 British firm Prodrive took over its operations, and its base moved from Japan to Banbury, England.
The National Capital Rally, replaced the Rally of Canberra as Canberra's round of the Australian Rally Championship and is an automobile rally event held in and around Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The Rally of Canberra first held in 1988. For many years the National Capital Rally (NatCap) was an ACT Series Rally that was held separately to the Rally of Canberra. When the Rally of Canberra ceased to exist the National Capital Rally was elevated to a round of the National Championship.
Antonio Marcel (Tony) Green is a drift and rally sport driver from New Zealand.
The 2008 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season (APRC) was an international rally championship organized by the FIA. The champion was Australian driver Cody Crocker. In winning the 2008 Malaysian Rally, Crocker successfully defended his title from the previous two years, to equal the record of three APRC titles set by Possum Bourne, Kenneth Eriksson and Karamjit Singh.
The 2009 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA.
Hayden Paddon is a New Zealand rally driver. He was PWRC world champion in 2011 and won the New Zealand Rally Championship in 2008, 2009, 2013, 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023. In 2023 he became the first non-European to be crowned European Rally Champion. Following that up by retaining the European Rally Championship title in 2024 and winning the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.
The 2010 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season is an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA.
Gaurav Gill is a professional rally driver and an Indian motorsports athlete who competes in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. In 2013, Gaurav Gill became the first Indian driver to win the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and went on to win two more APRC titles in 2016 and 2018. Gill became the first sportsperson from Motorsports to win the coveted Arjuna Award from the President of India in 2019.
The 2012 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season is an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship is contested by a combination of regulations with Group N competing directly against Super 2000 cars for points. Australian driver Chris Atkinson won the championship he narrowly lost the previous year, beating the Proton R3 Rally Team he raced for in 2011. His Škoda Fabia won the Rally of Whangarei as well as his home event the International Rally of Queensland as well as finishing second in New Caledonia, Malaysia and China, building up a lead his 2011 teammate and defending champion Alister McRae could not catch once his Proton Satria Neo started winning at the Malaysian Rally and the season ending China Rally. The only other rally winners were Indian Skoda driver Gaurav Gill at the Rallye de Nouvelle Calédonie and Malaysian Proton driver Karamjit Singh. Super 2000 cars dominated results with only New Zealand driver Brian Green finishing in the top three at any event in a Group N car.
The 2013 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season is an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship is contested by a combination of regulations with Group N competing directly against Super 2000 cars for points. A new rally was added to the calendar, the first since Rally of Queensland in 2009, in the Thailand Rally.
The International Rally of Whangārei is a rallying event held in Whangārei, New Zealand. The first event was run in 2007 replacing the International Rally of Rotorua as New Zealand's round of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). With the World Rally Championship's move to a rotational calendar means that the International Rally of Whangārei becomes in the years Rally New Zealand is not held, New Zealand largest rally event. The rally also hosts a round of the New Zealand Rally Championship. While originally being a late season event, today it is held in May and is the season opening event in the APRC. The rally has been sponsored by automotive lighting manufacturer Hella for most of the events history but is now unsponsored.
The Malaysian Rally, known previously as Rally Malaysia and Rally of Malaysia, is a rallying event held in the state of Johor, at the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia. The rally is based out of the state capital Johor Bahru.
The 2014 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was contested by a combination of regulations with Group N competing directly against Super 2000 cars for points.
The 2017 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. The championship was contested by a combination of regulations with Group R competing directly against Super 2000 cars for points.
The 2019 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship was an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA. It was the 32nd championship and underwent a major format change. For the first time the two Cups, the Asian Cup and the Pacific Cup, acted as qualifying events for a "Grand Final" at the China Rally Longyou where the highest qualified winner becomes the Asia-Pacific champion.