Story: Evan Rothman
Picture: PROTON Media
One of the most popular rallies in Asia takes places this weekend. With over 50 000-strong crowds cheering on their favourite teams at the ceremonial start alone, Rally Hokkaido is a highlight on the FIA’s Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) calendar.
This the second round of the seven event series is hosted in the cities of Makubetsu and Obihiro, in Japan’s Tokachi region. Known for its extreme weather conditions (an annual temperature range of 60 decrees Celsius), and rain is expected to fall. The rally’s stages will be run in the north-west of Makubetsu, except the thrilling draw card Spectator Super Special stage in Obihiro next to the Kita Aikoku-based service park.
The competitors will contest 18 stages over 220,97km of timed rally action over 946,49km-long event route. Seven of the stages are different, with the stages repeated throughout the event’s three days of competition. The lush vegetation is one of the features of this event: the stages wind through the scenic vistas. The roads are fast but narrow and in order to reach the final finish the pacenotes will need to be accurate as the grass and bushes can often be hiding some deep ditches and slippery tree roots.
Rally Hokkaido will produce intense rallying, as this event also forms Round Three of the Japanese Rally Championship. In the APRC, it is Katsihiko Taguchi leading the points standings. This local driver has been victorious twice on this event in the last five years. Fellow countryman Hiroshi Yanagisawa will, however, be looking to top the timesheets here this weekend. APRC and Australian rally ace Cody Crocker has won this event three times in the past five years.
Threatening in their first outing in Malaysia for the first round of the APRC were the Proton R3 Rally Team crews of Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson. McRae, co-driven by Bill Hayes, led in Malaysia for much of the event, but his brand-new Proton Satria Neo S2000 suffered a minor engine fault to force them out of the event.
Chris Atkinson, with his World Rally Championship experience and expertise, is partnered with co-driver Stephane Prevot, finished fourth overall in last month’s Malaysian rally after an extremely positive start to the event. Expect fireworks from these two factory-backed crews this weekend.
Alister McRae said: “I have never competed in Japan before, so I’ve only got a rough idea of what to expect. I’ve watched some footage from Rally Japan and a lot of the in-car, so this gives you a good flavour of the stages to come. They look quite fast in places, but really narrow as well. They don’t seem to flow too much. I would say the key to this event is going to be getting an accurate set of notes from the recce.”
Chris Atkinson said: “I’ve got fond memories of Japan; it’s the place where I scored my first podium, taking third place on my first visit there in the Impreza WRC in 2005. The stages are good. They’re fast and smooth in places, but they are quite technical. There’s a lot of the road running under the trees which can make it hard to see the precise line you want to take through the corner. You do need very accurate pace notes on this event.”
Rally Hokkaido will be a test for the drivers, and with many fast local crews adding spice to the event’s entry list, this will be an event to savour.
• YouTube video: 2010 APRC Season Preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7p5-dzCZiQ
• YouTube video: With Proton in 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbXdmUdokqQ
Follow the rally on: http://handbrakeshairpins.wordpress.com for up-to-the-minute stage times and news flashes.