APRC 2007 DVD Out Now
Friday, 14 December 2007

The 2007 Season Highlights of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship are now available on DVD.

This DVD features an extended 58 minute version of the official TV programme, plus an additional 45 minutes of extra in-car camera footage compiled from all seven events.

The DVD is only US$30, including airmail postage. For more information, or to purchase a copy, please visit www.aprc.tv.

Posted by Bruce 8:12 am 0 comments

Crocker and Atkinson Crowned APRC 2007 Champs
Monday, 10 December 2007

2007 APRC champions, Cody Crocker and Ben Atkinson, have officially been presented with their championship trophies at the FIA's gala end-of-year presentation, held in Monaco last Friday night.

Along with 2007 WRC champion Sebastien Leob, first-time Formula 1 champ Kimi Raikkonen, and the the winners of other FIA-sanctioned championships from around the world, Crocker and Atkinson collected their second APRC champions trophy.

While their 2007 title makes it two-from-two as a driver/co-driver combination, Ben Atkinson is quickly becoming one of the series most successful co-drivers, having previously won the S1600 category in 2003 and 2004, co-driving for brother Chris.

Photo courtesy of FIA.COM

Posted by Bruce 10:23 am 0 comments

APRC Season Highlights on TV
Friday, 7 December 2007

The APRC's one-hour season highlights show is coming to a TV near you.

The 2007 review show, produced by the team at APRC.TV, features all seven rallies in the championship, with all the teams and drivers.

The show will also be aired in January by other broadcasters including China's GD-TV, the world-wide motorshows 'MotorSport Mundial' and 'Max Power', plus several Asian Airlines.

An expanded version of the TV programme and extra in-car footage from each event is available on DVD, further details available from http://www.aprc.tv/aprc-dvd.shtml

Source: aprc.tv
Photo courtesy of ~Aquila~

Posted by Bruce 7:56 am 0 comments

Green Comes Out Clean in the Welsh Mud
Wednesday, 5 December 2007

APRC regular Brian Green and his co-driver Fleur Pedersen have completed the last of three fly-away events on a high, battling the mud and slush of Wales Rally GB to finish 55th overall.

Run over forestry and military roads near the host city of Swansea, even the WRC cars found the conditions tough going, with fog, rain and night stages presenting plenty of challenges for the 112-strong field.

Heavy rain and cold temperatures in the days prior the rally turned the normally muddy roads into bogs. And with night falling by the time the group-N cars set off on the the penultimate stage of day 1, a thick blanket of fog rolled in to provide a bit of extra excitement.

'The thickest fog I have ever seen', commented the Kiwi veteran. 'At times we had to come to a standstill, just to see where the road was, and if we were still on it!'.

The pair were again their Mitsubishi Evo 8, the same car they ran two weeks earlier at Rally Ireland. On this event, however, the car was not quite as reliable, a blown clutch ruining their run over the Super Special stage on day 2, held inside Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

But the toughest conditions were reserved for the final day, heavy rain and high winds battering the crews throughout Sundays final four stages. With so many cars running over the stages, the roads had become badly cut-up.

'The roads were all very slippery, and a lot of time was spent just trying to keep the car where it should have been on the road!'.

Having now completed back-to-back rallies in China, Ireland and Wales, the pair are heading back to New Zealand for a well-earned break, before starting afresh in 2008.

Photos courtesy of Jim Smith and Ryan Smith.

Posted by Bruce 6:46 pm 0 comments

Canberra Welcomes Internationals in 2008
Tuesday, 4 December 2007

The APRC Rally of Canberra organisers are looking forward to welcoming an increased number of international teams next May.

Run as a joint round of the NEC Australian Rally Championship and the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, the rally already has strong support from international teams; however the announcement of a new cup being introduced into the APRC in 2008 has the potential to increase this number even further.

The FIA has approved two new drivers awards for the 2008 season – the Pacific Cup and the Asia Cup - with the Pacific Cup likely to have a positive effect on the number of international crews participating in the APRC Rally of Canberra, by making it more affordable for them to compete.

"It is a great initiative and I am glad that we can be a part of it," said APRC Rally of Canberra organiser Mike Bell.

"The APRC Rally of Canberra is known as one of the best rallies on the APRC calendar, and the Pacific Cup has the potential to bring more international crews to Australia which will be a huge boost for the event".

2006/2007 NEC Australian Rally Champion, Toyota Racing Development’s Simon Evans, is looking forward to Rally of Canberra and is hopeful the new initiative will introduce Australian rallying to more international crews.

"Rally of Canberra is a fantastic event, not only do we get a chance to compete on the same stages as some great international drivers, but we get to showcase what rallying in Australia is all about to international rally fans and media," said Evans.

"We have a great group of competitors in the NEC ARC and every event provides a new challenge, but I always look forward to the opportunity to see how we stack up against some of the international drivers," he added.

Former Australian Rally Champion and current APRC Champion Cody Crocker is excited about the potential both the Pacific Cup and its counterpart the Asia Cup have for the APRC.

"I always love coming back and competing in Australia, it’s great to get back out on the roads and compare times with guys like Simon."

"Canberra is one of best places in the world to go rallying and the APRC Rally of Canberra is a fantastic event, it has great infrastructure and fantastic roads, best of all it is different every year, you are always challenged in new ways whenever you return."

"If the new cup concept can increase the number of international crews coming to Australia then it is only going to strengthen the rally further," added Crocker.

The APRC Rally of Canberra will be held in the forests around Canberra 10th – 11th May 2008.

Source: rally.com.au

Posted by Bruce 4:09 pm 0 comments

Brian Green Ready for Welsh Mud
Wednesday, 28 November 2007

This weekends Wales Rally GB plays host to the final round of the World Rally Championship, and the battle between defending champ Sebastien Loeb and retiring WRC veteran Marcus Gronholm. And while they may garner much of the rally worlds attention, APRC fans will also be looking a little further down the running order, with Brian Green and Fleur Pedersen competing in their second WRC event in as many weeks.

At Rally Ireland, Brian and Fleur endured three days of rain and fog to complete the event in 39th overall, an outstanding result considering the stages were run over narrow, bumpy, tarmac roads.

Along with the rain, mud dragged out onto the corners presented an extra challenge for all the crews. "The grip level on these roads was totally unpredictable. One corner the grip would be fantastic, and the next there would be zero grip", Brian commented after the event.

With Wales Rally GB in mind, Brian and Fleur took their time to adjust to the conditions. But even running at a cautious pace, the wet tarmac caught them out a couple of times. After a high-speed spin over a crest on stage 13, the penultimate stage almost proved their downfall, the Lancer Evo 8 snapping sideways on a fast but bumpy straight. "I thought for a moment we weren't going to be doing Rally GB!", said co-driver Fleur Pedersen at the end of the stage.

At the time of writing, Brian and Fleur are completing their recce of Rally Wales' 360km of competitive stages. Back on gravel, it will be another tricky weekend for the pair; "It's damp and foggy, the roads are fast, but often quite slippery".

Photos courtesy of David Hardingham.

Posted by Bruce 11:37 am 0 comments

Yanagisawa in China
Tuesday, 27 November 2007

Rally China provided plenty of challenges for Cusco Racing team driver Hiroshi Yanagisawa.

In the latest video from APRC.TV, catch up with all the trials of the Japanese driver's Longyou sojourn.

Posted by Bruce 12:41 pm 0 comments

APRC 2008 - 'All Out, All Change'
Saturday, 24 November 2007

As Murray Brown mentioned in the last APRC Live podcast, there's a raft of changes planned for the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship on 2008.

The most significant is the addition of two regional 'cups', providing extra exposure for crews that don't have the budget to contest the full 'six out of seven' rounds of the series.

In the 'Asia Cup' crews will be battle each other at rallies Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and China, each crew nominating to contest three of the four rallies. While the 'Pacific Cup' crews will fight it out at rallies Nouvelle Caledonia, Whangarei and Canberra.

For the 'full-time' APRC crews, they will the continue to battle for the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship at six of the series seven rounds that they nominate before the start of the series. (Additionally, they may also nominate to contest either the Asian or Pacific cups as well as the full APRC title).

Also expected to make an appearance next year will be Super 2000 cars.

Already competing throughout Europe, South Africa and Australia, the Super 2000 category allows manufacturers who don't sell turbo-charged, 4WD cars the opportunity to compete with an FIA-approved drive-train, and high-revving, normally aspirated engines.

And the FIA's new tyre rules come into force for 2008, limiting crews tyre choice to commercially available rubber, and spelling the end of well-funded teams being able to ship in 'spec' tyres for particular events.

As Murray Brown said, "I've had considerable interest from teams and drivers for APRC 2008. I am very confident of a strong turn out for next year and believe the inclusion of the Asia Cup and Pacific Cup will boost entries at all the events".

Photos courtesy of Linear Photographs, Keith McKinnon and Jewski

Posted by Bruce 10:10 am 0 comments

Rally China Photos
Friday, 23 November 2007

One of those photographers is Anand (Andy) Philar, and he's captured some outstanding photos of Rally China, which you can check out on his Flickr page. (Make sure to check out the Rally Canberra photos while you're there!)

Posted by Bruce 8:38 am 0 comments

Rifat in China
Wednesday, 21 November 2007

For an even better idea of what the conditions were like during Rally China, have a look at this video from APRC TV, as they follow MotorImage driver Rifat Sungkar throughout the event.

Posted by Bruce 12:14 pm 0 comments

Round 7 - Rally China
Wednesday, 14 November 2007

Play Show, or Right-Click to Download

Cody Crocker only needed to cross the start line to claim a second APRC title. But he went further, and while his rivals fell away during the opening day, Crocker powered on, not only taking APRC win, but the overall rally victory ahead of higher-profile European drivers.




Unfortunately for the MRF team, China provided no joy. Katsu Taguchi crashed out during the first morning, while Jussi Valimaki and Gaurav Gill were forced to stop thanks to contaminated fuel.

However China proved to be a treat for Brian Green, the only APRC driver, apart from Crocker, not to fall foul to the Chinese roads. He not only took second place on the podium, but also fourth for the series.

Posted by Bruce 7:05 pm 0 comments

Labels: podcast

Crocker Ready for Chinese Challenge
Saturday, 3 November 2007

The APRC season comes to a close next weekend in Longyou. And although Rally China is the last event for 2007, it's one of the toughest events on the calendar.

Motor Image driver Cody Crocker just has to start the rally to claim back-to-back APRC titles, but knows the event holds some of the toughest stages found anywhere in the world.

"There's a few really, really tight, twisty stages...at least 50 hairpins in about 19 or 20kms", Crocker said, speaking from his home base in Melbourne.

"(They're) pretty serious stages. Very technical, very demanding, but very, very interesting too. We had quite good fun last year; maybe because the pressure was off and we didn't have to win the championship at that rally."

Run through the countryside surrounding the city of Longyou, in the Zhejiang province, Rally China offers a completely different set of challenges for the APRC crews, not the least of which was the rain that transformed last years event into a mud-bath.

"China last year was very wet and very muddy, the muddiest rally we'd done for a long time. China is always unique because of the types of roads and where you go. You go through villages which are very narrow and twisty, and you get a lot of the locals standing by the side of the road watching you, about two feet away from the car."

The rally is also a round of the Chinese domestic series, which features both the best local drivers, and well known internationals, such as David Higgins and Martin Rowe, and Crocker's ex-Subaru Australia team-mate Dean Herridge.

"Last year was one of the best turn-outs we've seen for the start of a rally in a long time. You had a lot of international champions there and it was a really good competition. This year...I think there's some of the IRC and Super 2000 cars there as well, so it's going to be even more interesting."

And while Cody would like nothing better than upstaging the rest of the field, there's still the important matter of securing the manufacturers title for Subaru. "We've won the championship, but we really want to win the manufacturers championship as well, and there's only two points in that. So whoever wins the rally, between Subaru and Mitsubishi, will win the manufacturers championship."

The rally kicks off on Friday with a super special stage, before the crews take to the Zhejiang mountains for Saturdays and Sundays stages.

Coverage of Rally China will be available from APRC TV, and the next APRC Live podcast, with all the action of Rally China, will be available mid next week.

But in the meantime, you can catch a glimpse of just how tough it will be to make it the finish line at Rally China:

Posted by Bruce 9:10 pm 0 comments

Katsu Captures WRC Point
Sunday, 28 October 2007

MRF Tyres driver Katsu Taguchi has upstaged the cream of the Production World Rally Championship field to complete Rally Japan as the production car home, his 8th place earning him the final WRC driver point.

Katsu drove faultlessly all weekend, leading the Group-N field from start to finish, with only the more powerful WRC cars able to beat him in the changeable conditions.

Friday’s eight stages were run in fog, bright sunshine and then heavy rain later in the day. But Katsu put his local knowledge to great use, extending his lead as the conditions worsened. "I’m really happy with everything," said Taguchi. "The car is working very well, we haven’t had any problems at all. The roads are getting quite rough in places, but nothing we can’t cope with".

Underscoring just how treacherous the conditions were, the attrition rate in the WRC field was high, with high profile drivers like Sebastien Loeb, Marcus Gronholm, Petter Solberg, Chris Atkinson and Jari-Matti Latvala all retiring during the event.

Even Katsu's long-time co-driver, Mark Stacey, was impressed at the Japanese veterans performance. "Katsu has been amazing...totally in control in the mud, knowing just where to find the grip. This is the kind of performance Katsu has been promising for a long time."

Finishing day one in 11th place and more than 30 seconds ahead of PWRC regular Fumio Nutahara, Katsu pushed further ahead on day two, leading Gabriel Pozzo by nearly a minute and jumping into 8th place.

Katsu drove conservatively on the final day to claim the final WRC drivers point, Pozzo making up some time late in the event, but never coming within a minute of the APRC regular.

"I pushed a little bit this morning, just to make sure of my pace. When I saw that he (Pozzo) was watching the PWRC runners behind him, then I was happy to lift off and get to the finish. In a way, I am quite sad this was the way we had to drive today. The roads, particularly in Panke Nikorpet and Penke – where the surface was harder, were very good. They would have been great stages to race on. Nevermind, I don’t mind so much, because I have achieved this result – which is incredible for me, my co-driver Mark Stacey (Australia) and all of the people in my team, the corporate sponsors and everybody in Mitsubshi. The car was perfect and we had no punctures. A great rally!"

It was less happy rally for Subaru's Toshi Arai. A first or second place in the PWRC drivers would have wrapped up another title for Arai and Tony Sirrcombe. But things started to go wrong on stage seven, his Subaru running off the road and bringing his day to an early end. He was able to restart on leg 2, but lost further time thanks to five punctures throughout the event.

Toshi did make it to the end of the event, scoring top-10 stages time along the way. But the time lost was too great to score any additional championship points. Having completed his six nominated events, Toshi will have to wait for rallies Ireland and Wales. If Pozzo can score an additional 18 points, he'll take the 2007 Group N championship.

Photos courtesy of Linear Photographs and Mitsubishi Motorsport.

Posted by Bruce 8:21 pm 0 comments

Rifat Looks to Repeat China Success
Thursday, 25 October 2007

A lot has happened in the 12 months since Rifat Singkar, Indonesia's highest-profile rally driver, claimed a podium on debut. Driving a Lancer Evo 9, Sungkar survived the mush and slush of Rally China 2006, 3rd place the perfect start to his APRC career.

Now coming to the end of his first full-time season in the APRC, Rifat finds himself in a very different position; fighting Cusco Racing driver Hiroshi Yanagisawa for fourth place in the championship.

Although both Rifat and Hiroshi currently sit behind Naren Kumar in the championship standings, the six-time Indian champion won't be at Rally China next month. With drivers allowed to score points in maximum six of seven rounds, Naren has completed his season with a four point lead over Rifat, and just single point ahead of Hiroshi.

Speaking from Jakata, the young Indonesian Sunkar is confident he can beat the experienced Yanagisawa. "The points standing is still wide open for fourth, with Hiroshi and Naren Kumar."

"In China, it's narrow and twisty in some stages, and the other stages are very dangerous. But my car this year is so much better than last year. The car is so easy to handle, but Hiroshi is driving the same car. It will be tough competition but, for sure, I'll do better than the previous rally in Makassar."

Part of Sungkars confidence is due to the improvement he has seen in himself, the Motor Image team working with Rifat to improve his skills in the car. "They have helped improve my speed and consistency, and my team-mates Cody and Toshi Arai have helped me a lot to improve my speed. And the other ones are my mechanics; because of them, I am driving a proper rally car that can compete in the top three positions."

The other area Sungkar has improved is with his pace notes. Bringing in the experienced Bill Hayes to sit in the co-driver seat for Rally Japan has paid dividends in the second half of the season, although adjusting to pace notes in English took some time.

"That was difficult for one event. But after that I had a big improvement in the notes. In English, the information is fixed. (Before) in Indonesian...we used a lot of 'maybe' in every corner...it was not 100% sure. But after learning from Bill, I found a lot of improvement and he taught me how to make proper and consistent notes."

And while Rifats immediate goal is capture fourth place in the championship, he's already looking to 2008 and beyond, having signed for a second year with Motor Image. "In terms of the Indonesian championship, the APRC is big, big stepping stone for me. My (goal) for the first year is to compete against those guys who have (a lot of) experience in the APRC. I believe that in my third year I can compete in the top three, and hopefully in the fourth year I can be the APRC champion. After that, I'll be looking for (a drive in) in either the PWRC or JWRC."

Posted by Bruce 8:31 pm 0 comments

Singapore Students Help Build APRC Winner
Tuesday, 16 October 2007

Source: Julia Ng, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE: A group of students from the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) helped build the car that has been winning at the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC).

The final leg will be held in China in November, but Cody Crocker has already gathered enough points to clinch his second APRC title.

Back in Singapore, at the Subaru Hub in Toa Payoh where the car was assembled, there is a great sense of achievement, especially for the ITE students who helped build the car Cody drives. More...

Photo courtesy of MotorImage.

Posted by Bruce 2:05 pm 0 comments

Valimaki: Finnish 'Champion of Champions'
Wednesday, 10 October 2007

Source: www.jussivalimaki.com

Rally Drivers Team of Finland organised a special 'Champions' event, run in southern Finland over the final weekend of September. The competition pitted the three Finnish 2007 rally champions; Group-A winner Jussi Välimäki, and Group-N champs Jari Ketomaa and Joonas Lindroos.

The event was contested on a single stage, driven first in a Group-N Opel Astra and then in a Group-A Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III.

Lindroos grabbed the early lead after the three completed their first run in the Astra. But Valimaki put his APRC experience to good use when the trio tackled the course in the more powerful, turbo-charged, Lancer.

Three-tenths of a second slower than Lindroos after the first pass, Valimaki edged out Ketomaa the second time around, making him the overall winner the event and claiming the title of Finnish 'Champion of the Champions'.

Overall results:
Jussi Valimaki: 3:25.10
Joonas Lindroos: 3:26.22
Jari Ketomaa: 3:26.40

Posted by Bruce 5:30 pm 0 comments

Naren Tests in Wales
Saturday, 6 October 2007

Source: AutoCar India and APRC.TV


Team Rally India driver Naren Kumar recently completed a two day evaluation test with the Subaru World Rally Team in Wales.

Naren spent a day familiarising himself with the Subaru at the Bill Gwynne rally school near Brackley, England, before heading to the Welsh countryside for a proper test at the famed Sweet Lamb motorsport complex.

Undertaken in typically difficult Welsh conditions, Kumar was rated highly by SWRTs chief evaluator Geoff Jones. "He’s got great car-control, and we didn’t have a single ‘moment’, considering this was the first time he’s driven a Subaru...the potential’s there. I think Naren is capable of a top five finish in the PWRC".

After the test Kumar was non-commital on his future plans, which are still primarily with the 2008 APRC. "We only did a evaluation test with Prodrive , nothing has been finalised as a lot of things will have to fall in place. This was only a test".

Posted by Bruce 8:47 pm 0 comments

Valimaki Takes Finnish Title
Tuesday, 25 September 2007

Jussi Valimaki's recent turn of good luck has continued, capturing the Finnish rally championship for 2007, the first time he has taken out his national title.

Going into the final round, held near the regional city of Mikkeli, south-east of Jyvaskyla, Valimaki lead the Group A category, but only by a single point from Jarmo Mikkonen.

From the opening stage, Valimaki and Mikkonen tried to pressure each other by setting fast split times. But Valimaki soon ran into problems, losing 1st and 2nd gears after just six kilometers. The problem couldn't be solved during service, and Valimaki was forced to contest the rest of the event with just three gears.

That provided an opportunity for Mikkonen, but he was having problems of his own; an off on stage 1 saw him stuck in a ditch. He did manage to get back onto the road, and during the following stages took the lead in Group A, Valimaki struggling on with just three gears.

But with just the transport back to service park to complete the event, the gearbox in Mikkonen's Peugeot 206 WRC failed, leaving he stuck beside the road.

Mikkonen's bad luck allowed Valimaki to complete the series seven points clear of Kari Ali-Rantala, and take the Finniah national title for the first time.

For more information and photos, check out jussivalimaki.com.

Posted by Bruce 2:55 pm 0 comments

The Give-Away Closes in One Week!
Sunday, 23 September 2007

Play Show, or Right-Click to Download

There's just one week to go before entries close for our APRC Live give-away competition. But the good news is there are now extra prizes to be won. Have a listen and you'll find out the details.

Posted by Bruce 8:45 pm 0 comments

Colin McRae Tribute
Tuesday, 18 September 2007

As the rally world comes to terms with the untimely and tragic death of Colin McRae, World Rally Radio have produced a wonderful tribute podcast, including interviews with Nicky Grist, David Richards.

You can download or listen to the podcast here.

Photos courtesy of fraise and magpie967.

Posted by Bruce 1:03 pm 0 comments

Latest Rally Indonesia Video
Saturday, 15 September 2007

'Hot off the press', here's the latest video from Rally Indonesia.



(Also available at YouTube).

Posted by Bruce 6:40 am 0 comments

Round 6 - Rally Indonesia
Tuesday, 11 September 2007

Play Show, or Right-Click to Download

At last! Someone else wins! Jussi Valimaki dominated Rally Indonesia from start to finish, while Katsu Taguchi banked solid times all weekend to take 2nd. The MRF Lancers turned around the disaster of Malaysia, for their best finish since the opening round in New Caledonia.

A simple mistake by Cody Crocker midway through leg 1 wrecked his event, 5th his worst result of the last two seasons. But even 5th scored him enough points to claim back-to-back APRC titles.




Thanks to www.jussivalimaki.com for some of the audio interviews featured in this podcast.

Posted by Bruce 7:17 pm 0 comments

Labels: podcast

Valimaki Grabs Win. Crocker Takes Title
Sunday, 9 September 2007

Another tough day of rallying in Indonesia, and Finland's Jussi Valimaki made the most of his great start on day 1, to complete the event at the top of the time sheets. Valimaki claimed his second win of the season, nearly a minute ahead of his MRF team-mate Katsu Taguchi.



With wins on the two morning stages, Valimaki remained in the top three all day to take the win, jumping into second place in the series.

But coming home with a 'wet sail' was Motor Image Subaru driver Cody Crocker, winning the final four stages of the rally and taking his second APRC championship title.

Although he was unable to improve on his 5th place from Saturdays stages, Valimaki's maximum points haul means Taguchi will not be able to catch Crocker in the championship, even if the Motor Image driver fails to score points at the final round in China.

Hiroshi Yanagisawa put his DNF in Malaysia behind him to claim the final podium position, and climb past Rifat Sungkar in the battle for 4th place in the championship. The Japanese driver is now just one point behind India's Naren Kumar, who was forced to retire mid-way through leg 2.

The podcast of Rally Indonesia, with all the details of the rally and interviews with the drivers, will be available for download from aprclive.com from Tuesday morning.

Unofficial Final Results:

1. Jussi Valimaki
2. Katsuhiko Taguchi +1:41
3. Hiroshi Yanagisawa +2:45
4. Gaurav Gill +4:24
5. Cody Crocker +4:39
6. Rifat Sungkar +6:39
7. Brian Green +16:12

Photo courtesy of jussivalimaki.com

Posted by Bruce 5:04 pm 0 comments

Valimaki Leaves Others In His Dust
Saturday, 8 September 2007

In a shock turn-around to the APRC season, Jussi Valimaki and his MRF Lancer has blown away the rest of the field to lead after eight stages of Rally Indonesia.

And even more surprising, after a near trouble-free run all season, the man who looks most likely to take the title, Cody Crocker, has had his worst day of the season, 5th at the end of the leg and trailing Valimaki by a massive four and half minutes.

After a disastrous Rally Malaysia, the MRF Lancer team have turned it around in Indonesia, with Valimaki taking seven of the days eight stages, only bettered on stage 2 by his team-mate Katsu Taguchi.

By contrast Crocker and his team-mate, local hero Rifat Sungkar, have had a day to forget, unable to match the MRFs on the slow and dusty Sulawesi stages. By midday service, Crocker was just two seconds behind second-placed Taguchi. But after lunch he struck trouble, dropping two minutes on stage 6 and hemorrhaging more time on the final two stages of the day.

Another six stages await the crews on Sunday, and Crocker will need to catch Gaurav Gill, more than a minute ahead of him, to capture 4th place and enough points to seal the championship ahead of the final round in China.

Unofficial Results Leg 1 (Updated)
1 Jussi Valimaki 1:46:55
2 Katsuhiko Taguchi 1:47:52
3 Hiroshi Yanagisawa 1:48:53
4 Gaurav Gill 1:49:42
5 Cody Crocker 1:51:24
6 Naren Kumar 1:51:28
7 Rifat Sungkar 1:51:39
8 Brian Green 1:55:46


Photo: jussivalimaki.com

Posted by Bruce 10:24 pm 0 comments

All Ready for Rally Indonesia

Rally Indonesia is ready to start, the crews heading out this morning for the first of 14 stages.

And the weather will also play a part this weekend.

With muggy conditions and temperatures predicted in the mid-30s, drivers are taking extra precautions against dehydration, even local hero Rifat Sungkar saying he's drinking up to 15 litres of water per day just to cope in the humidity.

Our Rally Indonesia audio podcast will be available here on Tuesday morning, and keep checking here at APRC Live, APRC.TV and the Rally Indonesia web site for updates throughout the event.

Photo: jussivalimaki.com

Posted by Bruce 9:50 am 0 comments

Jussicam in Indonesia
Thursday, 6 September 2007

Jussicam is back!

Follow Jussi and Jarkko as they 'dash' from Rally Uusikaupunki in Finland to Makassar in Indonesia.


This is the first of three videos covering Rally Indonesia, and is available free-of-charge from Jussi's web site.

Posted by Bruce 1:44 pm 0 comments

Can Crocker take Second Title?

Source: APRC.TV

Could this weekend's sixth round of the 2007 Asia Pacific Rally Championship be 'deju-vu' - an exact copy of last years event where Australian Cody Crocker comes to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi only needing a a few more points to wrap up the championship.

It's all remarkably similar to last season but there are a few subtle differences. View more...

Photo courtesy MotorImage

Posted by Bruce 1:30 pm 0 comments

Hiroshi's Blog

To follow the fortunes of Hiroshi Yanagisawa and the Cusco Racing Subaru at Rally Indonesia, have a look at his blog page. The original version is in Japanese, but you can use Google Translate to convert it into English.

Posted by Bruce 1:06 pm 0 comments

Jussi hangs on to lead in Finnish Series
Tuesday, 4 September 2007

MRF team driver Jussi Valimaki is racking up the frequent flyer points, making a 28 hour trip from the seventh round of the Finnish rally championship last weekend to Indonesia for this weekends APRC Rally of Indonesia.

But he'll be hoping for a better result in Indonesia. Going into the SM Uusikaupunki rally with a 10 point lead in the Group A category, after missing the last round due to Rally Malaysia, Jussi was hoping to increase his lead.

However, he wasn't able to keep pace with his championship rival Jarmo Mikkonen and his Peugeot 206 WRC. Driving to secure 3rd-place points, brake problems during the final three stages sawJussi lose another two positions, completing the event in 5th.

That result means Jussi continues to lead Group A, but now by a single point only.

Jussi and co-driver Jarkko Kalliolepo arrived in Makassar on Monday, Rally Indonesia one of the events he won on the way to his 2005 APRC championship title. For more information, photos and in-car video, have a look at Jussi's web site.

Posted by Bruce 1:05 pm 0 comments

History never repeats
Friday, 31 August 2007

And they say 'history never repeats'!

With two rounds left to run in the '07 APRC season, I thought it might be interesting to look back at where we were 12 months ago.

Like this year, Rally Indonesia was round 6 of the season, and also like this year, Cody Crocker went into the event as the championship leader. In fact he didn't win the event outright, that honour going to Toshi Arai making an appearance in a Motor Image Subaru. But second outright, and first for the APRC, saw Crocker take an unassailable points lead; 68 points out of a possible 70 after winning the five rounds he'd contested to that point.

Like this year, Katsu Taguchi started Rally Indonesia second in the championship, and Rifat Sungkar and Hiroshi Yanagisawa were battling it out for the minor places.

We'll find out next week if Cody can repeat his effort of 2006 and seal his second championship title in Makassar, but in the meantime, you can take a trip back down memory lane with this video from last years Rally Indonesia.

Posted by Bruce 1:26 pm 0 comments

MRF Left Scratching Their Heads
Wednesday, 22 August 2007

The major surprise to come out of Rally Malaysia was the forced retirement of Katsu Taguchi and Jussi Valimaki in the MRF Lancers. Valimaki had reported possible gearbox problems at the end of day 1, but the team was unable to fully examine the fault during service.

However the problem became crystal clear during Sundays first stage, Valimaki's rear differential failing and forcing him to retire at the end of the test. And things went from bad to worse, with Taguchi suffering the same problem on the very next stage.

(The third MRF Lance of Gaurav Gill suffered a broken short shaft in the front differential, which the team fixed during first service).

During the event team boss Lane Heenan suggested the rear diffs may have reached the end of their normal operating life.

But with the cars back at the Race Torque Engineering workshop, the team has investigated the matter further, and the mystery has deepened. Broken teeth were discovered in both rear diffs, which ultimately put Taguchi and Valimaki out of the rally.

What isn't apparent is why the teeth broke. After checking the team records, Heenan confirmed to APRC Live that neither rear differential was out of 'life', nor were they from the same batch.

Heenan and his team will continue to investigate problem, and both cars will be repaired and ready for Rally Indonesia. But unless the source of the problem can be found in time, both Valimaki and Taguchi will be hoping it doesn't raise its head again in the heat and dust of Sulawesi.

Posted by Bruce 3:09 pm 0 comments

Rally Malaysia Video and Photos
Friday, 17 August 2007

Click the Play button to see all the action from last weeks Ancom Malaysian Rally.

Make sure you check out all the latest Rally Malaysia photos at the Linear Photographs web site.





Local photographer Adrian Lim was out in the stages as well, and has also posted his own series of photos.

Posted by Bruce 1:58 pm 0 comments

Naren Makes His Point

Source: India Times

By: PRADEEP KUMAR & VIVEK MUKHERJI
TNN

CHENNAI/CHANDIGARH, August 15: In the shrill din of India's conquest of England on the cricket field after 21 years, the sound of the bubbly being popped by an Indian in muggy Malaysia got drowned out.

Last Sunday, Coimbatore-based rallyist Naren Kumar sprayed champagne from the second step of the podium in the Malaysian Rally — the fifth round of FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship. He is the first Indian to stand on the podium of an APRC event. And, rallying doesn't get bigger and faster in the Asia-Oceania region than APRC.

After his return to Chennai, Naren said the obvious: "Our team's aim was a podium finish in the beginning of the season. I am happy that I was able to do it quite convincingly in the penultimate round. This will augur well for the coming days. I hope to continue with good performance in the Rally of Indonesia," Naren, told TOI...

Posted by Bruce 1:46 pm 0 comments

Round 5 - Rally Malaysia
Wednesday, 15 August 2007

Play Show, or Right-Click to Download

Cody Crockers dream season keeps rolling on, Malaysia his fourth straight victory. Now with a 28 point lead, the rest of the year looks like to will be a fight for second between the MRF team-mates Katsu Taguchi and Jussi Valimaki.



And Malaysia was also a good event for the Reece Jones Motorsport entries, Naren Kumar and Brian Green claiming the other APRC podium positions.



And we also have a chat with three-time APRC champ Karamjit Singh about his come-back to the Malaysian national series, and a possible return to the APRC next year.



And if you have a look at the MotorImage web site, you'll find a short video of the event.

Posted by Bruce 8:16 am 0 comments

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