van Dalen added though that Pons, who has been demoted to the third car, will return - and that he will definitely be back out in action at the end of September for the Cyprus Rally: “I trust Xevi and I know he has a real potential. His programme will restart in Cyprus and before that, he will do some testing,” continued van Dalen. “He knows that event and will have everything in his hands to get his feeling back, just like when he scored valuable points for the team in the first half of the season. Because he won’t compete in Japan, his programme has been extended for Australia and New Zealand, which weren’t planned originally.”
In addition to the manufacturer entries, reigning Production Car World Rally champion, Toshi Arai will drive a third works
Subaru Impreza, while Gareth MacHale will compete in a privately entered Ford Focus.
Arai, who was apart of the official SWRT in 2001, will enjoy 'full service support' from the Prodrive-run squad during his home round. This will be his fourth Rally Japan and he has an excellent record on the event - and at the wheel of a Group N specification Subaru Impreza, he has won his class every year he’s entered. He will certainly carry the hopes for the home fans.
“I’m very excited about competing in Rally Japan with the Subaru World Rally Team. I know the team well – there are still the same faces, although some of them have moved up a level since I was last here,” he noted. “There’s quite a lot of pressure as it’s my home rally and my first time in a WRC car since 2001, so the goal for me will be to get a good finish. Realistically we’ll be aiming for a top five position, but if we get there and one of the top three has a problem, you never know, we could be on the podium.”
Since Arai last drove for the SWRT in 2001, he has competed in the PCWRC with considerable success. At the wheel of a Subaru Impreza he finished second overall in 2003 and 2004 and won the title in 2005.
Schedule:
The rally is again based in Obihiro, in the Tokachi region of Hokkaido, with a central service park at Kita Aikoku a few kilometres south. All the traditional stages are based north of the city and are broadly similar to 2005, although several have been modified. The main change is the introduction of a new super special stage next to the service park which will be used on all three days. After a city centre ceremonial start on Thursday evening, drivers face two anti-clockwise loops north-east of Obihiro in Friday. Saturday's second leg is the longest of the event and is located in the same area but makes use of tests further south near the town of Ashoro. The final day is the shortest and heads north west of Obihiro. Drivers face 345.72km of competition over 27 stages in a route of 1586.28km.
Hot tip:
Marcus Gronholm,
Sebastien Loeb and
Petter Solberg are the three drivers’ most likely to triumph. Gronholm is probably the best bet out of these three, given he will head to Japan on the crest of a wave following his win in Finland. Loeb will probably lose time on day one sweeping away the lose gravel while Solberg hasn’t had much luck all season and his form on the last two events has done little to suggest that this will change.
Last year:
Marcus Gronholm won the event in 2005 after Petter Solberg was forced to retire from the lead on the penultimate stage of the event after hitting a rock. Sebastien Loeb took second place, 1 minute 22.1 seconds adrift, while
Chris Atkinson was third and secured his maiden WRC podium.
Francois Duval and
Toni Gardemeister were fourth and fifth respectively. In addition to Solberg there were three other notable retirements – namely
Gigi Galli, Daniel Sola and
Mikko Hirvonen.
