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2006 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship

Report

FIA ASIA-PACIFIC RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 4: RALLY HOKKAIDO
MRF MITSUBISHI ON THE PODIUM IN HOKKAIDO  
9 JULY 2006 LEG 2 RELEASE
FINAL RESULTS

Katsuhiko Taguchi / Mark Stacey
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
 

Katsuhiko Taguchi / Mark Stacey
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
 
Mitsubishi cars again finished on the podium in the lastest round of the 2006 Asia Pacific Rally Chmapionship, the Rally of Hokkaido in Japan. Local star Katsuhiko Taguchi again proved his worth by finishing 3rd in APRC with team-mate Jarkko Miettien not far behind in 4th. Both drivers were driving brand new Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, prepared by the Race Torque team and running on MRF tyres.

The Rally of Hokkaido is based in the city of Obihiro, with competition held in the beautiful forests and hills nearby. The event was held in cool summer conditions, with the 230 kilometres of competition roads dry and dusty, but in excellent condition. The drivers found the roads quite rough on the 2nd passage through and this required they adapt their driving to suit the tricky conditions.

The brand new MRF Mitsubishi Lancers were impressive throughout the event and set times in the top 5 throughout the rally. At the completion of the first days rallying in the new cars, both drivers were satisfied with their positions and made small adjustments to the suspension that would further improve their times on the 2nd day.

At the last service before the ceremonial start, Taguchi reflected on another solid finish for the team, "The car was very good and ran faultlessly, especially as these were brand new cars. The car performance is very good, but we still have some way to go, to get the perfect set-up - at the moment only about 90% performance, next event maybe 93-94%. I think the next round of Asia-Pacific in Malaysia will be better for the car and for myself I have plenty of experience from the Malaysian championship and hope we can win.". Taguchi moves into 2nd position for the drivers championship with 30 points.

For Taguchi’s team-mate Jarkko Miettinen from Finland this was a event to re-build his championship hopes and on the second day of the event, as his confidence returned Miettinen’s pace quickened and to prove that, he set the fastest time on SS14 and collected a bonus point for finishing 3rd fastest on day 2. "A little disappointed as we are here to win and get maximum points, but overall its was good to finish, collect 6 points and today was a good driving day for us - we drove less aggressively, more smooth and the times begun to get better from there".

The MRF Mitsubishi team now moves to Malaysia for the next round of the APRC on August 18-20. Malaysia is well known for its heat and humidity - and sudden tropical downpours that can instantly turn the fast rubber plantation roads into muddy and extremely slippery jungle tracks.
 FINAL CLASSIFICATION
Pos Driver
Co-Driver		 Vehicle Grp
Pos		 Total
Time		 Diff
Leader
1 Toshihiro Arai
Tony Sircombe		 Subaru Impreza WRX N
1		 2:25:19.2 **:**.*
2 Takuma Kamada
Hakaru Ichino		 Subaru Impreza WRX N
2		 2:26:52.7 +1:33.5
3
AP		 Cody Crocker
Ben Atkinson		 Subaru Impreza WRX N
3		 2:26:53.1 +1:33.9
4
AP		 Hiroshi Yanagisawa
Tadashi Misaizu		 Subaru Impreza WRX N
4		 2:28:09.5 +2:50.3
5
AP		 Katsuhiko Taguchi
Mark Stacey		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX N
5		 2:29:15.2 +3:56.0
6
AP		 Jarkko Miettinen
Mikko Markkula		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX N
6		 2:29:23.5 +4:04.3
7
AP		 Eli Evans
Matt McAdam		 Subaru Impreza WRX N
7		 2:32:04.0 +6:44.8
8 Daisuke Yamada
Takumi Takahashi		 Subaru Impreza WRX N
8		 2:35:32.6 +10:13.4
9 Eiichi Iwashita
Akihiko Takahashi		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII N
9		 2:35:58.0 +10:38.8
10 Kyosuke Kamata
Chieko Kamata		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution N
10		 2:36:06.0 +10:46.8
11 Shinya Yamauchi
Kouhei Kusaka		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX N
11		 2:36:26.6 +11:07.4
12 Masahiro Nakajima
Akihiko Kenmochi		 Subaru Impreza WRX N
12		 2:38:23.4 +13:04.2
13 Mitsugu Nakamura
Yoshitaka Fujishima		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution N
13		 2:38:24.3 +13:05.1
14 Kozue Ol
Yumiko Toyama		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII N
14		 2:40:13.8 +14:54.6
15
AP		 Brian Green
Fleur Pedersen		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX N
15		 2:41:56.8 +16:37.6
16
AP		 Subhan Aksa
Hade Mboi		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII N
16		 2:45:10.6 +19:51.4
17 Yoshio Ikemachi
Syoko Suzuki		 Subaru Impreza WRX N
17		 2:47:16.0 +21:56.8
18 Kimihide Terao
Akihito Tokunou		 Subaru Impreza WRX N
18		 2:48:31.4 +23:12.2
19 Hisatoshi Yoshitani
Kenji Yamakita		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII N
19		 2:48:35.5 +23:16.3
20 Keisuke Amou
Hideki Takeyabu		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII N
20		 2:49:10.4 +23:51.2
21
AP		 Fan Fan
Junwei Fang		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX N
21		 2:49:10.7 +23:51.5
22 Tatsuru Saito
Akira Endo		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX N
22		 2:50:16.3 +24:57.1
23 Masato Nakanishi
Naoko Kayahara		 Honda Integra Type-R N
23		 2:53:20.8 +28:01.6
24 Masayoshi Murano
Takashi Kamemori		 Subaru Impreza WRX N
24		 2:53:50.9 +28:31.7
25 Shigeo Kobayashi
Makito Tanaka		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII N
25		 2:55:07.9 +29:48.7
26 Kenji Ishigaki
Ayumi urushido		 Honda Civic SiR N
26		 2:57:33.1 +32:13.9
27 Hideaki Tanaka
Ryuji Horikawa		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution N
27		 2:59:19.7 +34:00.5
28 Risa Hirayama
Norimasa Yamagishi		 Honda Civic SiR A
1		 3:07:26.1 +42:06.9
29 Takako Nakano
Yasunori Matasuda		 Subaru Vivio Sedan N
28		 3:11:28.5 +46:09.3
30 Yoko Fukuzawa
Takako Akaba		 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII N
29		 3:34:21.6 +1:09:02.4
31 Kenji Ohkura
Yukari Otaki		 Suzuki Ignis Sport N
30		 3:57:22.3 +1:32:03.1



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