Maidstone rally driver Louise Cook achieved her mission of competing in New Zealand at the weekend.

Cook faced a challenge to raise enough funds to compete at the World Rally of New Zealand – one of the mandatory long-haul events she had to enter.

But after a mammoth effort, which included selling her trophies, she succeeded in entering and finishing the race along with co-driver Stefan Davis.

She completed the event in the Ford Fiesta ST 27th overall from a field of 35, sixth in the Production Class and second in 2WD. Sebastien Loeb won the event.

Cook sits seventh in the Production WRC standings after now completing three events. Cook was pleased with her performance, especially as she had to compete while feeling ill.

She said: "We avoided getting a whopping fine, and so a big thumbs-up to those people who made it happen.

"We did all right, considering I got plane flu and was ill during the recce and the rally," she said.

"It meant the pace notes weren’t great but we still managed to set some good times and I was pleased with that. We also picked up some good points."