Molly Taylor will have a team-mate at this weekend’s European Rally Championship event in Croatia and it will be fellow Australian Adrian Coppin.

Taylor, who as well as contesting her class, is chasing the inaugural ERC Ladies’ Trophy will once again campaign a Citroen DS3 R3 with the United Business, with Coppin to have the same machinery for the all-tarmac event which covers 14 special stages and 239.12 competitive kilometres.

“Despite having never competed in the Croatia Rally I can’t wait to be there and we will not leave anything to chance,” said Taylor.

“Poland was tough and despite having obtained a positive result I could not push as hard as I wanted; especially in light of the difficult weather conditions which made the special stages very tricky.

“In Croatia I hope to race with more freedom and be able to push.”

This year the 40th Croatia Rally will see the participation of 98 cars with crews from 19 countries, including Coppin who will be making his European Rally Championship debut.

“I am really excited about competing in Croatia as Molly’s team-mate,”

“I am not daunted by the tarmac surface, as I spent a season circuit racing prior to switching to rallying. But there will still be plenty of challenges along the way with learning to drive the new car, coming to grips with the slippery tarmac, communicating with the team and the event officials who do not speak strong English and finding our way around.

“My goal is to get to the finish, gain as much experience as possible and have some fun!” Coppin said.

The field will be led away by current ERC Championship leader Jan Kopecky in a SKODA Motorsport entered Skoda Fabia S2000 followed by Belgian Pieter Tsjoen, also in a Skoda Fabia S2000.

The entry list is an interesting mix of the cars currently competing in rallying in Europe including the new Fiesta R5, Renault Megane RS, Peugeot 208 R2s, Skoda S2000 and R3 Citroens to name just a few.