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Mike takes Forest Rally win by 0.5 seconds

Perth based New Zealander Mike Young has narrowly won the Forest Rally, round 2 of the West Australia Rally Champs.The Kiwi was in second place for much of the 135 kilometre event held on 13th September, but when his arch rival and rally-leader John O’Dowd had an overshoot in his Skoda R5 on the penultimate 32 kilometre Wellington Dam stage, the gap between them was down to just 2.4 seconds....

Mike enters Otago Rally with new Sponsor

New Zealander Mike Young has added Otago Rally to his international schedule in 2020 driving a Mazda AP4 supported by Dunlop Tyres and new sponsor GO! Logistics.Andrew Hawkeswood’s Force Motorsport will run the car with Malcolm Read reading the notes and the pair entered in both the FIA Asia-Pacific and New Zealand Rally Championships.“After working on the event with the NZRC television team last year I’m really looking forward to actually competing at Otago Rally this time, those South Is...

Mike and CUSCO back for another APRC Challenge

2019 FIA APRC Asia and Junior Cup winner Mike Young and Cusco Racing Japan have confirmed their entry in the 2020 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship and while the full calendar is still to be confirmed, the team is planning on entering the International Rally Whangarei, followed by September’s Rally Hokkaido and the final in Coff’s Harbour, Australia. The team will compete in the Cusco developed Toyota C-HR backed by TRD (Toyota Customising and Development) and Dunlop Tyres Japan. Young’s...

Season Wrap - From Snow and Ice to Auzzie Bushfires

2019 is done and dusted. Our rally season has finished for the year and it has taken us all over the Asia Pacific region - from the freezing snow of Rally Tsumagoi in Japan to the bush-fires at WRC Rally Australia in Coffs Harbour. We led four out of six rallies we entered this year including a debut win for the Toyota CH-R at Rally Hokkaido and won three championships - FIA Asia Cup, FIA Junior Cup and the Japan Super Series. Lets start at the beginning. In February my co-driver Malcolm Read an...

Two FIA Cups but no Championship Title

He may have won more stages than any other driver, but New Zealander Mike Young's dream of becoming the 2019 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion came to an abrupt halt on stage 4 when his Cusco TRD C-HR stopped with an electrical problem. Young and co-driver Malcolm Read were locked in battle with eventual winner Chinese-Taipei driver Lin Dewei – swapping the lead on each stage and with just seconds separating them. Unfortunately, without warning Young’s car lost power and he and Read were force...

Debut Win for CUSCO TRD C-HR

New Zealand rally driver Mike Young, paired with Australian co-driver Glenn Macneall, convincingly won last weekend’s Rally Hokkaido round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, powered by Würth. Covering 16 special stages through the lush countryside of northern Japan, Young returned to the ceremonial finish with a winning margin of just over seven minutes. The penultimate round of the four-round FIA Asia Cup, Young set fastest time in every stage – and now takes a commanding points ...

Young to Debut Cusco TRD CH-R at APRC Rally Hokkaido

Kiwi international rally-driver Mike Young has plenty to look forward to this weekend as he debuts Cusco’s brand new Toyota CH-R at Japan’s Rally Hokkaido, a qualification round for the 2019 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship powered by Würth....

Win for Cusco TRD Yaris & testing a new car

Late last month Malcolm Read and I jetted off to Japan to compete in the Japanese Super Rally Series, a championship that includes international competitors and international spec rally cars. Its a four round series that started with the Snow Rally in Tsumagoi in February, APRC Montre and finishes next month with APRC Rally Hokkaido. Yokote Rally is round three, located five hours north from Tokyo and near the top of the main island. To our surprise the summer in Japan was in full swing and abov...

Fight Back to Podium Finish

Although leading APRC Rally Montre at the time, broken suspension on Stage 9 prevented Mike Young from posting his first win in the 2019 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship driving the CUSCO TRD Yaris 4WD . Co-driver Malcolm Read showed his amazing skills by rebuilding the suspension on the road-section afterwards, but the time lost proved too much to claw back on Day 2, even though the pair won all the gravel stages and were fastest for the leg. A podium for 3rd place in the APRC’s Asia Cup w...

Young Confident for Montre Victory

Mike Young and co-driver Malcolm Read have completed a full test session ahead of this weekend’s Rally Montre, run in Japan’s Gunma Prefecture. With the experience of competing in the same area earlier this year, the Kiwi is confident the reliability issues that have so far plagued his Cusco TRD Yaris are a thing of the past, and is aiming for victory at the third round of the 2019 Asia Pacific Rally Championship. “Today we had a pre-event test at a local dirt track near to the Rally HQ”...

Third place at International Rally of Tsumagoi

Mike Young and Malcolm Read have kicked off their 2019 rally season with an impressive third place at the International Rally of Tsumagoi, a snow rally held in Gunma Prefecture north-west of Tokyo. Leaving behind record summer temperatures in New Zealand and Australia, Young and Read headed to the winter wonderland of Japans’ mountains where temperature plummet to -20C at night. Competing in the international section of the event they were up against APRC regulars such as Mitsuhiro Aoki and fe...

2018 - Its a wrap!!

Well what a year!...

Four stages wins, and a 'Shakey' start

Well what a start to our Hokkaido Rally trip! We left a week early to have a good look around Hokkaido before travelling to Obihiro for the rally. During our first night in Japan, Hokkaido experienced one of their worst earthquakes. What a welcome to Japan and thankfully we were all safe, but stuck in the city of Muroran until the power could be turned on three days later....

A Podium in Malaysia – one better in Japan?

New Zealand rally driver Mike Young is revelling in the opportunity to test and develop the Cusco team’s new 4WD Toyota Vitz (Yaris) in the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. The development AP4 Toyota proved to be fast right from the first stage of 2018. “In New Zealand we were 2nd fastest in shakedown (practice) and on the first three stages, only beaten by Hadden Paddon a WRC Driver - this showed that we were fast and the car was fast too”, said Young. While mechanical issues on Stage...

Podium place in Malaysia

The Malaysian Rally with its heat and humidity is always one of the toughest events of the year. Hard on the car but also on myself and Malcolm (Read) as temperatures inside the car can reach 50+ degrees C. This year proved to be no different with hot humid conditions all weekend. Luckily rain that fell earlier in week held off until the last 5kms of the last stage. Thank goodness! We were always going into the unknown with this rally and how the Cusco Toyota Vitz was going to handle the heat. I...

Last Stage Heart-Break in Australia

The second round of the 2018 APRC in Canberra, Australia started positively with the Cusco Toyota Vitz and the new Dunlop tyres handling the rough rocky conditions really well. We were able to set some competitive times and at the end of Day 1 given our conservative pace were happy to be 5th overall. Unfortunately things started to go wrong from the first stage of Day 2 when the clutch started to slip. Co-driver Scott Beckwith and I managed the situation all day - until 10 kilometres from the fi...

Canberra In-car Camera Stage 7

In-car Camera Stage 7 - Canberra, Australia.Here's some great action from our in-car camera mixed with outside shots of the car. This is a pretty typical stage on Day 1 of Canberra Rally with lots of brows, jumps and rocks. The second pass was a lot easier than the first one, when we number one on the road and there were no lines to follow!Please follow this LINK to my Youtube channel....

Indian Sportskeeda Interview

Indian On-Line Magazine Sportskeeda Interview Reprinted with permission from Sportskeeda.com and Salman Shahid (author)....

Cusco Toyota has huge potential

Hi Everyone. Our first Asia-Pacific event for 2018 with the new Cusco Toyota Vitz got off to a brilliant start with only WRC driver Hayden Paddon faster than us over the first three stages, held on the fast roads in the Northland region of New Zealand. Given that this is the first time the car has run with the new Lexus engine it has given team the confidence to know they have built a great car and now its all about building on that potential. Unfortunately we retired on Stage 5, after a steerin...

Positive Test for Young and Cusco Toyota ahead of Rally Whangarei

New Zealand rally driver Mike Young and co-driver Malcolm Read had their first taste of the car they will contest the 2018 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship in, a 4WD Toyota Vitz (Yaris) built by Cusco Racing Japan and supported by Dunlop....

Toyota for Young in 2018 Asia Pacific series

New Zealander Mike Young will drive a 4WD Toyota Vitz (Yaris) built by Japan’s Cusco Racing and supported by Dunlop in the 2018 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. The Vitz will be powered by a Lexus 2000 cc direct injection turbo engine supplied as part of a joint project with TRD-Toyota Racing Development (operated by Toyota Customizing and Development Co. Ltd.) and entered in the ASN category. Young’s team-mate for 2018 will be Yuya Sumiyama from Japan who will drive Cusco’s R5 Skoda F...

2017 - A year of firsts for Young

New Zealander Mike Young has reached the end of his 2017 international rallying campaign after competing in five different cars, in five different countries, at five different events around the Asia-Pacific region....

WRC success for Mike in Australia

Mike Young’s first ever World Rally Championship (WRC) event has been a great success after he and co-driver Malcolm Read finished first in the two-wheel-drive category at the Kennards Hire Rally Australia in Coffs Harbour over the weekend....

World Rally Championship start for Mike

Kiwi rally duo Mike Young and Malcolm Read are ready to tackle the prestigious Kennards Hire Rally Australia, the final round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), this weekend after test driving their Citroën DS3 R3 for the first time yesterday. Even though Young hadn’t driven the car until Monday, he is determined to push for a good result after a successful testing session on roads around Coffs Harbour in northern New South Wales where the event is based. The car, prepared by Rallyhire Au...

Back-to-back international rallies for Mike

New Zealand rally driver Mike Young is preparing for two back-to-back international events in India and Australia in November, where he’ll pilot two different European cars to compete with the world’s best....