Rifat Sungkar / Herkusuma Mohamad
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
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Rifat Sungkar / Herkusuma Mohamad
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
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China Rally held near the city of Longyou, south-east of Shanghai, was
definitely one of the toughest events of the year and with only four
finishers in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship category it was
Indonesia Rifat Sungkar who flew the flag for Mitsubishi on the finish
podium. This was the young Indonesian’s third podium of the year, a
remarkable feat considering this is his first attempt at the whole
championship where conditions vary considerably from event to event.
After the heat and dust of the last round in Indonesia, China Rally was
a complete contrast with wet, cold and misty conditions that were made
even tougher by twisting mountains roads that sometimes took the rally
cars to altitudes high above the storm clouds and into clear blue skies.
The narrow roads were made extremely treacherous by several weeks of
rain prior to and during the rally - and after several passes the roads
became muddy and rutted, but Sungkar handled all these challenges and
brought his Mitsubishi Lanver Evo 9 home 6th overall and 3rd APRC
driver. Talking with news media at the finish Sungkar said "We
expected for the first year we could get 6th or 7th place, but its
fantastic I have finished 3 times on the podium and 4th overall in the
championship - next year I want to return and improve my driving further".
Fourth in APRC was New Zealander Brian Green who drives a Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo 9 for the Chinese Wan Yu Rally team. Green has also competed
in the very strong Chinese championship and was therefore more familiar
with the Chinese roads ’ they are always tough here, it doesn’t matter
what region the rally is, the roads are car-breakers. But the wet
weather certainly didn’t help and we’re pretty happy to be one of the
few cars that actually completed the whole event". said Green as crossed
the finish-ramp.
The event was disaster for the MRF Mitsubishi team loosing Katsu Taguchi
early on SS3 with suspension damage. Finlands Jarkko Miettinen was in
third position going into the final day when he had gearbox problems and
retired. Taguchi started the 2nd leg to gain bonus points, but then he
too went out with gearbox problems on the very last stage. By not
finishing the event the Japanese driver lost his 2nd position in the
Asia Pacific Rally Championship, over-taken by his countryman
Yanagisawa. Dermott Malley retired with mechanical problems on the 2nd
day, Eli Evans was a victim of the mud and slippery conditions when he
slid off the road on the final day. The APRC’s Chinese competitor Fan
Fan retired on the Superspecial after rolling his Mitsubishi - in front
of a very large home crowd.
The Asia Pacific Rally Championship will resume on April 15th, 2007 with
the first event held on the beautiful Pacific Island of New Caledonia.
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