

REPORT
As 2024 AXCR completes all competition dates
Katsuhiko Taguchi in a MITSUBISHI TRITON takes 5th overall
LEG 6, the 6th and final day of competition in the Asia Cross Country Rally 2024 (AXCR) took place on Saturday 17 August, and Katsuhiko Taguchi (Japan) /Takahiro Yasui (Japan) in the No.107 TRITON finished 5th overall. New team members this year, Kazuto Koide (Japan) /Eiji Chiba (Japan) finished in 24th place, while Sakchai Hantrakul (Thailand) /Jumpol Doungthip (Thailand) completed the rally in 27th overall. Chayapon Yotha (Thailand) /Peerapong Sombutwong (Thailand) decided to retire due to engine trouble happend in the previous day.

The total distance of Selective Section (SS) 6 was 86.73km. The route was set in the northern area of the downtown Kanchanaburi. Although the SS distance was short, it proved as challenging as the other SSs and anything could happen. Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART drivers departed from the service area for the final stage of the rally.
Taguchi, who got off first among the TRITONs, had trouble finding the correct route at the beginning of the section and had to continue with trial and error. This caused him to lose a lot of time early on, but he managed to post the 12th fastest SS time and finish the rally in 5th spot. Koide was 14th fastest in the SS to come out in 24th overall. Although he had to help his teammate in the second half of the rally, it can be said that he proved to have the speed to run in the midfield group. Hantrakul struggled to get on the correct route in today's SS and ended up completely lost, so he opted to withdraw from the day. After receiving a penalty, he finished the rally in 27th. As there were no problems with the car, this result once again highlights the importance of navigation.
The ceremonial finish took place at Skywalk Avenue, close to the Skywalk Kanchanaburi, a glass bridge that has been created as a new tourist attraction in Kanchanaburi. The competitors who completed the rally passed through the gate one by one and congratulated each other on their good work over the six days. For Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART, this result has been a reminder of the intensity and difficulty of motorsports, but the team will analyse the various data obtained in this event and use it to improve their future car development.
Comment from Chayapon Yotha, driver of Car No.103
"We kept fighting at our own pace from the very first day and we were able to take the lead on Thursday's SS4. That said, after that, we ran into trouble on SS5 and lost the lead. It was very unfortunate and frustrating. However, the whole team did a great job so I'm very happy about that. I'll try to reboot my mind and work hard for next year."
Comment from Katsuhiko Taguchi, driver of Car No. 107
"Today, I considered the gap to the others behind and trying not to lose, but we deviated from the course midway and we were on the edge. As expected, this rally was never easy. Compared to last year, this year's course was more of a jungle overall, or rather, I got the impression that there were very many low-speed corners, sandy areas and corners. It's good that we were able to move up from last year's 8th place thanks to improvements to the TRITON, but we could’ve gone much higher, so it's still frustrating."
Comments from Sakchai Hantrakul, driver of Car No.130
"On the last day we got completely lost and had trouble finding the exit. The pace was good in the early stages of this rally and if we hadn’t lost the route, I think we could’ve had a very good rally. There were absolutely no problems with the TRITON, but I think navigation was difficult. No matter how good the performance of your car is, you can't win without accurate navigation. In SS4, we got stuck and Koide (Kazuto) came to help us. It really helped us at that time."
Comments from Kazuto Koide, driver of Car No.137
"It was able to gain a lot of experience in this rally. However, it was very disappointing that I couldn’t fully convey the information about our surroundings to my co-driver, Chiba (Eiji), and therefore he wasn’t in a situation where he could perform at his full potential. I think I was able to contribute to the team as quick support, but I personally have mixed feelings, as it’s normally better that quick support is not used so much. Although we accomplished our mission, the team couldn’t achieve a good result, so I’m very disappointed about that."
Comment from Hiroshi Masuoka, Team Director of Team MITSUBISHI RALLIART
"Overall, the course set up was difficult this year and navigation was very challenging. I think it was a very varied course, including the areas that required good rough-road driving capability. We’ve evolved the TRITON in all directions to take revenge for last year and we were able to verify its effectiveness. On the other hand, it was a frustrating result. Chayapon (Yotha) moved up places one by one from 3rd to take the lead, but ran into trouble. However, the direction in which we have been preparing is not wrong, and the car's performance has improved significantly. We’ll prepare for next year to further improve driving performance and reliability. This year, I think that our employee driver, Koide (Kazuto) in our fourth car also began to drive better towards the second half of the rally. I hope that he will utilise this experience to help develop young employees within the company. Thank you for your support."


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