APRC Round 2 – Rally Of Hokkaido Day 2 And Final Classification
Japanese rally driver Toshi Arai (above) won his home rally at Hokkaido yesterday, finishing ahead of his illustrious APRC rivals. Compatriot Katsu Taguchi of MRF Tyres finished the rally in second place, but was 1st under APRC classification. He was followed by Cusco Racing’s Hiroshi Yanagisawa and Indian teammate Gaurav Gill. This makes it two 1st place out of two for Taguchi in Asia Pacific Rally Championship 2010, after winning the Malaysian Rally back in April.
This year’s Rally of Hokkaido saw Subaru Impreza driver Arai drove superbly through 18-stage course, and in the end won by an impressive 1 minute and 56.4 seconds ahead of the second place man, alongside his British navigator Daniel Barritt. Meanwhile Yanagisawa was only 9 seconds behind Taguchi, also driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. He was pressing Taguchi all the way but couldn’t make up enough time to overtake the former APRC champion.
PROTON R3 Malaysia Rally Team’s participation was a disappointment, after an engine problems put Chris Atkinson out. His teammate Alister McRae didn’t fare any better, he hit a large rock on Saturday and broke the sump. But all is not lost as both drivers returned on Sunday to set good times and this surely be a positive signs for the team ahead of next round’s rally at Whangarei, New Zealand.
The Asia Pacific Rally Championship will resume in New Zealand on July 3-4 with the International Rally of Whangarei.
Selected Driver Quotes :
Toshihiro ARAI (SUBARU TEAM ARAI) : Subaru was good, Pirelli tyres were good. I raced in Japan for a long time. I race in the production car championship by GRB and I’m used to it. We found a good suspension setting and used it in the rally and it worked. This time the roads were bad, compared to previous Rally Hokkaido and Rally Japan. The roads were bad but I couldn’t retire. I had to drive.
Katsu TAGUCHI (TEAM MRF) : It’s been only 2 rallies driving the Evo X, and compared to the Evo 9 it is not easy to control. I’m used to driving in Japan and my only worry was the control. In this rally Proton Neo S2000 cars having problems and retired. But In New Zealand it’s hard to break down, unlike what happened in Malaysia and here.
Hiroshi YANAGISAWA (CUSCO RACING) : I drove to my limit, without checking the results. I did my best.
Gaurav GILL (TEAM MRF) : It’s great to be here. I finished third in APRC, it is still a podium place. Winning is better, but I’m happy to finish on the podium. We had a good rally, but I made a mistake. I’ll learn from them and do better next time. Taguchi and Yanagisawa are fast, but I’ll try again next year. It’s all been a good weekend. The team is good, not perfect, but almost perfect. MRF are constantly being developed. It’s all looking smooth and we have a big lead against Proton. The Proton team is good, but they are not finishing, so it’s good for us. We are doing our best.
Overall Classification :
| Pos | No | - | Driver Co-Driver Entrant |
Vehicle | Group Class |
GrCls Pos |
Time | Penalty | Diff Leader (Prev) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Toshi.ARAI D.BARRITT SUBARU TEAM ARAI |
SUBARU SUB.IMPREZA WRX STI |
N 4 |
1 1 |
2:06:29.9 | *.* (*.*) |
||
| 2 | 1 | AP/A | K.TAGUCHI C.MURPHY TEAM MRF |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION X |
N 4 |
2 2 |
2:08:26.3 | +1:56.4 (+1:56.4) |
|
| 3 | 5 | AP/A | H.YANAGISAWA Y.NAKAHARA CUSCO RACING |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION X |
N 4 |
3 3 |
2:08:35.3 | +2:05.4 (+9.0) |
|
| 4 | 4 | AP | G.GILL G.MACNEALL TEAM MRF |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION X |
N 4 |
4 4 |
2:10:29.8 | +3:59.9 (+1:54.5) |
|
| 5 | 6 | WC/A | Y.SUMIYAMA N.KASE CUSCO RACING |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION X |
N 4 |
5 5 |
2:11:59.7 | +5:29.8 (+1:29.9) |
|
| 6 | 19 | Y.ONISHI M.TATEYAMA ADVAN-PIAA RALLY TEAM |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION X |
N 4 |
6 6 |
2:18:57.5 | +12:27.6 (+6:57.8) |
||
| 7 | 13 | S.TAGUCHI S.IKEDA SEIICHIRO TAGUCHI |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVO IX |
N 4 |
7 7 |
2:21:56.4 | +15:26.5 (+2:58.9) |
||
| 8 | 14 | T.YOSHII M.NABEKURA STREETLIFE WORLD RALLY TEAM |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EV |
N 4 |
8 8 |
2:22:50.4 | +16:20.5 (+54.0) |
||
| 9 | 10 | WC | F.TAKAHASHI M.NAKAMURA AHRESTY RALLY TEAM |
SUBARU SUB.IMPREZA WRX STi |
N 4 |
9 9 |
2:25:34.5 | +19:04.6 (+2:44.1) |
|
| 10 | 15 | A.KIM M.NAKASATO MRU MOTORSPORTS |
SUBARU SUB.IMPREZA WRX STi |
N 4 |
10 10 |
2:26:04.1 | +19:34.2 (+29.6) |
||
| 11 | 18 | M.AOKI M.ISHIGEDANI ANZAI WORKS RALLY TEAM |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVO IX |
N 4 |
11 11 |
2:27:14.9 | 0:10 | +20:45.0 (+1:10.8) |
|
| 12 | 24 | A.BAMBA T.YASUI CUSCO RACING |
SUZUKI SWIFT SPORT |
N 2 |
12 1 |
2:31:48.0 | +25:18.1 (+4:33.1) |
||
| 13 | 17 | T.NONAKA H.SONODA TEAM YUSHIN |
SUBARU SUB.IMPREZA WRX STi |
N 4 |
13 12 |
2:39:18.3 | +32:48.4 (+7:30.3) |
||
| 14 | 8 | A | T.HASEGAWA N.HARA HASEPRO WORLD RALLY TEAM |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVO VIII |
N 4 |
14 13 |
2:45:16.3 | +38:46.4 (+5:58.0) |
|
| 15 | 21 | M.HIRAGI A.KITAYAMA HOKUTO BRAIN CHALLENGE |
SUBARU SUB.IMPREZA 555 GC8 |
N 4 |
15 14 |
2:52:06.4 | 2:10 | +45:36.5 (+6:50.1) |
|
| 16 | 26 | K.KONDO T.WAKI HOKUTO BRAIN CHALLENGE |
DAIHATSU SIRION/STORIA |
N 1 |
16 1 |
3:03:14.1 | 2:00 | +56:44.2 (+11:07.7) |
|
| 17 | 27 | M.TOMIZUMI R.SATO MOTOR SPORTS CLUB ANGLE |
TOYOTA TOYOTA YARIS 3DOOR |
N 1 |
17 2 |
3:08:31.5 | +1:02:01.6 (+5:17.4) |
Retirements:
| No | Driver Co-Driver |
Nat | Vehicle | Class | Control | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Atsushi MASUMURA Hiroshi SUZUKI |
J J |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION X |
N/4 | TC 1B | Turbo |
| 7 | Muhammad Rafiq UDHAYA Sean GREGORY |
MAL MAL |
SUBARU SUB.IMPREZA WRX STI |
N/4 | SS 2 | Engine |
| 16 | Tatsuru SAITO Akira ENDO |
J J |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION X |
N/4 | SS 2 | Off road |
| 25 | Show AIKAWA Sadatoshi ANDO |
J J |
FORD FIESTA ST |
N/3 | SS 3 | Off road |
| 2 | Chris ATKINSON Stephane PREVOT |
AUS B |
PROTON Satria Neo S2000 |
N/4 | TC 6 | After SS5 Mechanical |
| 23 | Koji MATSUSHITA Hiroto KONDO |
J J |
SUBARU SUB.IMPREZA WRX STi |
N/4 | TC 6 | Differential |
| 3 | Alister McRAE Bill HAYES |
GB AUS |
PROTON Satria Neo S2000 |
N/4 | SS 6 | Mechanical |
| 28 | Tatsuya AOYAMA Kazuyuki YUZAWA |
J J |
TOYOTA TOYOTA YARIS 3DOOR |
A/5 | SS 6 | Mechanical |
| 20 | Syohei ISHIKAWA Souichirou KANNO |
J J |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVO IX |
N/4 | SS 8 | Mechanical |
| 11 | Satoru ITO Hiroko TAKAHASHI |
J J |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVO IX |
N/4 | SS 12 | Off road |
| 28 | Tatsuya AOYAMA Kazuyuki YUZAWA |
J J |
TOYOTA TOYOTA YARIS 3DOOR |
A/5 | SS 12 | Mechanical |
| 22 | Tadashi ARAI Akihiro TAMAKI |
J J |
MITSUBISHI LANCER EVO IX |
N/4 | SS 13 | Clutch |
| 2 | Chris ATKINSON Stephane PREVOT |
AUS B |
PROTON Satria Neo S2000 |
N/4 | TC 18 | Mechanical |
Photo : Rally Of Hokkaido Press Release
Editorial : Nazim Idris
