The 1st Rally Japan takes place this coming weekend - the eleventh round out of sixteen in the 2004
FIA World Rally Championship.
Japan - like Cyprus, earlier in the year - will
not count towards either the 2004 FIA Production Car WRC or the 2004 Junior WRC. It will however count towards the 2004 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship [round four of seven].
After a ceremonial start in the host city of Obihiro, 900km north of Tokyo, the event will commence on Friday morning when 90 competitors from 17 countries will cross the start ramp.
In total, the event comprises 387.50 competitive kilometres and 27 stages run in the Tokachi region of Hokkaido. The longest stage is the Niueo stage at 26.57km, while the shortest is the 2.2km head-to-head Super Special at Satsunai.
Special notes:
First run in 2001 as the Hokkaido Rally, for the last two years the event has been included in the FIA Asia-Pacific Championship.
Following the inaugural Corona WRC Rally Mexico in March, Japan will become the second event to make its World Rally Championship debut in 2004. The third, Rally Italia Sardinia, occurs in October.
With FIA regulations preventing teams from testing outside Europe, the event's narrow gravel stages run in the Tokachi region remain unfamiliar for almost all the FIA WRC competitors.
Presenting crews with a series of twisty, smooth, loose-gravel roads, which are fast and flowing in places, the stages run through some deeply forested areas.
Weather conditions are expected to be wet and unpredictable, making tyre choice a difficult factor.
FIA World Rally Championship news:
Sebastien Loeb leads the World Rally drivers' championship, 29 points ahead of
Markko Martin.
Citroen meanwhile head the constructors' - 29 points ahead of Ford, while Subaru are a further 29 adrift in third.
News from the Manufacturers' teams:
555 Subaru World Rally Team:
[
Petter Solberg, car #1 and
Mikko Hirvonen, car #2.]
The Rally Japan has special significance for
Subaru, as it will be the first time they compete on 'home ground'.
