Young Tapper stuns old hands at International Rally of Rotorua

Mark Tapper's modified Fiesta was in its element in the rally's tight and twisty stages.

Running the Ford Fiesta Sporting Trophy car in the International Rally of Rotorua resulted in a stunning eighth place finish for the two-wheel-drive car.

Against an international field and his Kiwi peers, Auckland's Mark Tapper thrilled crowds with his sideways style. The Fiesta left many of the more fancied four-wheel-drive cars in the background.

The Fiesta, a new car built using the specific Sporting Trophy kit of parts, features a highly developed suspension and gearbox system which gave it a big increase in performance over 275km of gravel roads.

It was in its element in Saturday's tight and twisty stages, although the faster Sunday roads allowed the more powerful four-wheel-drive cars to encroach on the young Aucklander's advantage.

"I think we proved the car's ability with the event result," Tapper said.

"The car was so easy to drive and that made my job so much easier - there wasn't a problem all weekend.

"It is predictable to drive. You can just tell it isn't going to do anything stupid."

The car is based on a standard road-going Fiesta ST150 that is fitted with a specialist parts kit supplied by Ford Rallysport factory team M-Sport in Britain. The Fiesta Sporting Trophy is designed to encourage keen competition for cars with equivalent performances to evaluate them for a championship category to be introduced to the New Zealand title.

The Ford Fiesta will be run at selected events during this season.

"I would like to drive it again," Tapper said.

"It was a lot of fun and exceeded all my expectations."