APRC Round 2 – Rally Of Hokkaido Day 1
Rally of Hokkaido Day 1 saw local boy Toshi Arai (above) leads the standing in a day full of setbacks and disappointments for many team and drivers.
The shock news was the retirement of PROTON R3 Malaysia Rally Team from the rally. Both their drivers, Chris Atkinson and Alister McRae were out of contention in Stage 5, with an engine problem and a leaked car sump respectively.
Japanese Toshi Arai, driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STI, was very fast through the course and leads the overall qualification with a time of 1:29:16.5, 1’20.9 over second place man Team MRF’s Gaurav Gill. Gill’s race almost ruined when he suffered differential problem on the Super Special Stage. Luckily he managed to continue, and retain his lead in thw APRC classification. After Stage 11 (final stage of day 1) Gill leads by 5.1 secs from his teammate home favourite Katsu Taguchi. Taguchi also had a problematic day, highlighted by a tyre puncture suffered in Stage 5 that made him lost 20 seconds.
Cusco’s Horishi Yanagisawa is 8.4 seconds behind Taguchi while his teammate Yuya Sumiyama is nearly three minutes behind the leader. Sumiyama was slowed by a rock in his car’s brake caliper, and with almost no brakes he struggles through the course and loses 2 minutes. Malaysia’s flag bearer Rafiq Udhaya’s participation ended early when he retired on Stage 1 with an engine problem. This surely hampered his challenge this season, but lets hope he can bounce back and make amends in future rounds.
| STAGE CLASSIFICATION | OVERALL CLASSIFICATION | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | No | Cls Pos |
Driver Vehicle |
Time | Diff Ldr (Prev) |
Pos | No | Cls Pos |
Driver Vehicle |
Time | Diff Ldr (Prev) |
| 1 | 12 | N/4 1 |
Toshi.ARAI SUBARU |
59.0 | *.* (*.*) |
1 | 12 | N/4 1 |
Toshi.ARAI SUBARU |
1:29:16.5 | *.* (*.*) |
| 2 | 6 WC/A |
N/4 2 |
Y.SUMIYAMA MITSUBISHI |
59.2 | +0.2 (+0.2) |
2 | 4 AP |
N/4 2 |
G.GILL MITSUBISHI |
1:30:37.4 | +1:20.9 (+1:20.9) |
| 3 | 1 AP/A |
N/4 3 |
K.TAGUCHI MITSUBISHI |
59.7 | +0.7 (+0.5) |
3 | 1 AP/A |
N/4 3 |
K.TAGUCHI MITSUBISHI |
1:30:42.5 | +1:26.0 (+5.1) |
| 4 | 5 AP/A |
N/4 4 |
H.YANAGISAWA MITSUBISHI |
59.8 | +0.8 (+0.1) |
4 | 5 AP/A |
N/4 4 |
H.YANAGISAWA MITSUBISHI |
1:30:50.9 | +1:34.4 (+8.4) |
| 5 | 13 | N/4 5 |
S.TAGUCHI MITSUBISHI |
1:01.6 | +2.6 (+1.8) |
5 | 6 WC/A |
N/4 5 |
Y.SUMIYAMA MITSUBISHI |
1:33:37.7 | +4:21.2 (+2:46.8) |
| 6 | 19 | N/4 6 |
Y.ONISHI MITSUBISHI |
1:02.1 | +3.1 (+0.5) |
6 | 19 | N/4 6 |
Y.ONISHI MITSUBISHI |
1:37:29.0 | +8:12.5 (+3:51.3) |
| 7 | 10 WC |
N/4 7 |
F.TAKAHASHI SUBARU |
1:03.6 | +4.6 (+1.5) |
7 | 14 | N/4 7 |
T.YOSHII MITSUBISHI |
1:40:47.8 | +11:31.3 (+3:18.8) |
| 8 | 14 | N/4 8 |
T.YOSHII MITSUBISHI |
1:04.4 | +5.4 (+0.8) |
8 | 13 | N/4 8 |
S.TAGUCHI MITSUBISHI |
1:41:34.3 | +12:17.8 (+46.5) |
| 8= | 18 | N/4 8= |
M.AOKI MITSUBISHI |
1:04.4 | +5.4 (*.*) |
9 | 11 WC |
N/4 9 |
S.ITO MITSUBISHI |
1:42:33.5 | +13:17.0 (+59.2) |
| 10 | 22 | N/4 10 |
Tadashi.ARAI MITSUBISHI |
1:05.5 | +6.5 (+1.1) |
10 | 10 WC |
N/4 10 |
F.TAKAHASHI SUBARU |
1:42:53.8 | +13:37.3 (+20.3) |
| 11 | 15 | N/4 11 |
A.KIM SUBARU |
1:05.6 | +6.6 (+0.1) |
11 | 15 | N/4 11 |
A.KIM SUBARU |
1:43:38.1 | +14:21.6 (+44.3) |
| 12 | 21 | N/4 12 |
M.HIRAGI SUBARU |
1:05.7 | +6.7 (+0.1) |
12 | 18 | N/4 12 |
M.AOKI MITSUBISHI |
1:43:42.6 (0:10) |
+14:26.1 (+4.5) |
| 13 | 11 WC |
N/4 13 |
S.ITO MITSUBISHI |
1:05.8 | +6.8 (+0.1) |
13 | 21 | N/4 13 |
M.HIRAGI SUBARU |
1:46:26.8 | +17:10.3 (+2:44.2) |
| 14 | 8 A |
N/4 14 |
T.HASEGAWA MITSUBISHI |
1:06.5 | +7.5 (+0.7) |
14 | 22 | N/4 14 |
Tadashi.ARAI MITSUBISHI |
1:46:44.3 | +17:27.8 (+17.5) |
| 15 | 4 AP |
N/4 15 |
G.GILL MITSUBISHI |
1:07.2 | +8.2 (+0.7) |
15 | 24 | N/2 1 |
A.BAMBA SUZUKI |
1:47:15.1 | +17:58.6 (+30.8) |
| 16 | 24 | N/2 1 |
A.BAMBA SUZUKI |
1:08.2 | +9.2 (+1.0) |
16 | 17 | N/4 15 |
T.NONAKA SUBARU |
1:54:37.5 | +25:21.0 (+7:22.4) |
| 17 | 17 | N/4 16 |
T.NONAKA SUBARU |
1:10.4 | +11.4 (+2.2) |
17 | 8 A |
N/4 16 |
T.HASEGAWA MITSUBISHI |
1:57:08.6 | +27:52.1 (+2:31.1) |
| 18 | 26 | N/1 1 |
K.KONDO DAIHATSU |
1:13.7 | +14.7 (+3.3) |
18 | 26 | N/1 1 |
K.KONDO DAIHATSU |
2:00:14.0 | +30:57.5 (+3:05.4) |
| 19 | 27 | N/1 2 |
M.TOMIZUMI TOYOTA |
1:17.4 | +18.4 (+3.7) |
19 | 27 | N/1 2 |
M.TOMIZUMI TOYOTA |
2:10:57.3 | +41:40.8 (+10:43.3) |
Photo : Nazim Idris / Rally Of Hokkaido Press Release
Editorial : Nazim Idris
