[More Pictures]

Tuesday, 15th April 2008

Mitsubishi man takes maximum points on round 1.

by Brian Young


Japan's Katsu Taguchi got his FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship campaign off to a flying start last weekend, when he led the Rally New Caledonia, the opening round in the series, from start-to-finish.

Driving a MRF Tyres Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, Taguchi used all his prior knowledge of the very tricky and fast event to establish a handy lead of 43 seconds on his new Australian team-mate Scott Pedder at the end of the first leg.

Advertisement

That gap was extended on day two when Pedder crashed out in the twisty Katrakoin stage leaving Taguchi to cruise to the finish and celebrate his first APRC win in two years.

"This is a very, very good result for us and a good start for our Asia Pacific championship," said Taguchi. "We got the maximum 16 points. It was not an easy event, quite difficult stages and I had to concentrate all the time.

"I'm now looking forward to Canberra now - its an event I like but it will be a big fight with new teams joining the APRC. We have new tyres from MRF for Canberra and hopefully we'll have the opportunity for some testing."

Dean Herridge meanwhile took the runners-up spot in his Subaru - an excellent result considering this was the Australian's first trip to New Caledonia and his first with CUSCO.

"This was an event full of firsts for us, first time with the CUSCO team, first time with Chris [Murphy] and first time in New Caledonia," he stated. "I said at the start I'd be really happy to just get on the podium, second is a great result for us - roll on Canberra!"

New Caledonian Jean-Louis Leyraud entered in the APRC Pacific Cup, completed the top three, while Kiwi Brian Green was fourth overall - and third in APRC category.

The 2008 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship now continues next month with the Rally Canberra, which runs from May 10-11. There the real battle will begin as reigning APRC champion Cody Crocker and Rifat Sungkar will start their campaign for MotorImage Subaru, while Takuma Kamada will also be out, competing with new team, Arai Motorsport.

Related Images

[Top of Article]