Britain's Mark Higgins remains in contention for the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship title following the Rally Japan on Sunday, after Armindo Araujo was excluded from second place.
Araujo's misfortune bumps Higgins up from sixth to fifth, something that takes his tally to 19 points, 20 less than current PWRC points' leader, Toshi Arai. However while Arai has taken in all six of his nominated events this season, Mark still has two to go and
if he can win in Ireland and GB, the Englishman would come out top courtesy of three PWRC victories to Arai's two.
Higgins, who was competing in Japan despite a fractured collarbone after crashing his motorbike prior to the event, was delighted to have done enough to keep his title dreams alive.
“I'm very happy to take this fight to the next round,” he told
www.mitsubishi-motors.com/motorsport. “It's been a really tough rally for me – with my shoulder giving me a lot of pain. One of the important things has been how easy the Mitsubishi has been to drive with my injury.”
Araujo's exit also sees Leszek Kuzaj move up to second, while Takuma Kamada now completes the podium.
The complete revised PWRC standings are as follows...
REVISED: Overall PWRC after SS27 / Leg 3:1.
Gabriel Pozzo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
3hours 45mins 50.6secs P
2.
Leszek Kuzaj Subaru Impreza
+02mins 40.1secs P
3.
Takuma Kamada Subaru Impreza
+02mins 48.4secs P
4.
Evgeniy Vertunov Subaru Impreza
+04mins 51.1secs P
5.
Mark Higgins Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
+05mins 32.7secs P
6.
Patrik Flodin Subaru Impreza
+12mins 49.0secs P
7.
Juho Hanninen Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
+17mins 21.8secs P
8.
Yoshio Ikemachi Subaru Impreza
+17mins 58.1secs P
9.
Amjad Farrah Subaru Impreza WRX
+19mins 32.8secs P
10.
Toshihiro Arai Subaru Impreza
+22mins 12.7secs P
11.
Claudiu David Mitsubishi Lancer
+25mins 02.9secs P
12.
Spyros Pavlides Subaru Impreza
+29mins 29.7secs P
13.
Martin Rauam Mitsubishi Lancer
+44mins 14.6secs P
14.
Stefano Marrini Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
+1hr 05mins 54.1secs P
RTD.
Fumio Nutahara Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
SS14 / Mechanical P
EXC.
Armindo Araujo Mitsubishi Lancer Evo
Excluded - body-shell did not conform to regulations. P
