Reigning South Australian Champion Darren Crozier will make a big step up in his EROAD Australian Rally Championship (ARC) exploits after the DRC 4×4 Motorsport team purchased the title-winning Ford Fiesta G4 of Adrian Stratford.
A long-time competitor at state level in Victoria and South Australia Crozier has often been associated with production cars for the majority of his career, having driven an lsuzu Gemini to 2WD success back in the early 2000s to more recent seasons in the Subaru Impreza STi N12.
Although he has limited experience at the highest level of rallying in Australia, Crozier is an extremely talented steerer and could cause some chaos in the top end of the field, as he aims for a full ARC campaign in 2026 alongside wife and long-term co-driver Michelle Crozier.
His last appearance in the ARC was at Toyota Gazoo Racing Rally of Canberra earlier this year, but he was unable to finish either heat due to gearbox problems with the Subaru.
With Crozier to obtain the Fiesta in the coming weeks, he will likely drive it at next month’s The Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally as the Zero car before having a proper first run in it at October’s Adelaide Hills Rally.
Crozier is just the latest driver to run a G4-spec car in the ARC, with the likes of Nathan Quinn, Troy Dowel and JJ Hatton all having done so in previous years.
Photo: Adrian Stratford
“The Production Car was a lot of fun and we didn’t have the budget for an AP4 with our current arrangement, but a G4 program is cost effective and we can maintain it in-house. Adrian Stratford Motorsport will assist in further development of the Fiesta and we do have freedoms weight-wise with the G4 so should become very competitive” Crozier said.
“The plan is to do the full series next year so we’re fully committed. We’ve already got a couple of sponsors on board, which is fantastic”
“With that said, we had every intention to run Production Cup this year, but when we had a gearbox issue at Rally of Canberra, which put us out. Then we couldn’t get to WA as a result of the issues and Queensland came too quick”.
“However, the opportunity then came up for the Fiesta, which has only done five or six rallies and helped Adrian get some good results in the Victorian Rally Championship, so I had to try it”
“There is a lot of talent and lots of quality cars in the ARC in the field currently, so it’s hard to work out where we stand, but events like Queensland, where there was a lot of attrition, we probably would’ve run just outside the top five. Put us in a new car that’s 150kg lighter, and we should be able to go faster and have confidence of reaching that level consistently”.
“We’re very comfortable with our plan to compete – doing the Zero car at Gippsland will be great as it will give us the chance to gain experience in the car with no pressure. Then we will do Adelaide and look at doing Tasmania”.
Having now purchased the Fiesta, Crozier will be looking to sell the Subaru Impreza STi N12, which brought him the highest level of success in South Australia last year.
The EROAD Australian Rally Championship continues next month with The Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally on 22-24 August in Heyfield.
