2010 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship

The 2010 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship season is an international rally championship sanctioned by the FIA.

With four-time champion Cody Crocker no longer contesting the series, it was expected to be a more open championship, and so it has proven. After five rounds of the series 1999 champion Katsuhiko Taguchi holds a three-point lead over fellow Mitsubishi driver Gaurav Gill. Taguchi won the first event of the series at Malaysia and was first registered competitor home in Japan behind veteran campaigner Toshi Arai (Subaru), but disappointing rallies in New Zealand and Australia left his early lead vulnerable. Gill was second in Malaysia and collected the points for third in Japan. Gill broke through for a points win at the Rally of Queensland, finishing over two minutes behind overall event winner, Australian Rally Championship competitor, Simon Evans (Subaru).

Subaru driver Rifat Sungkar got his breakthrough points win at the New Caledonia rally, finishing second behind Pacific Cup registered racer Brendan Reeves (Subaru), putting the Indonesian driver in a clear third.

The only factory team in the series the Proton R3 Malaysia Rally Team, entered a pair of S2000 class Proton Satrias for former WRC drivers Chris Atkinson and Alister McRae. The pair have pushed hard for podium finishes but have had reliability issues developing completely new cars.

With the completion of Rallye de Nouvelle Calédonie, the Pacific Cup was completed. Australian driver Brendan Reeves rounded off the competition with an outright win and claiming the Pacific Cup, which takes in the Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia rallies. Reeves scored almost double the points of New Zealand Production World Rally Championship competitor, Hayden Paddon (Mitsubishi). Paddon tied for second with Glen Raymond (Mitsubishi) and Brian Green.

The Asia Cup still has one round to run, Taguchi leads by two points over Gill with Hiroshi Yanagisawa third also in a Mitsubishi.

Race calendar and results

The 2010 APRC was as follows:[1]

Round Date Event Location Winner
1 April 24–25 Malaysian Rally Malaysia Malaysia Japan Katsuhiko Taguchi
2 May 22–23 Rally Hokkaido Japan Hokkaidō, Japan Japan Toshi Arai*[2]
3 July 3–4 Rally of Whangarei New Zealand Whangārei, New Zealand New Zealand Hayden Paddon
4 July 31–August 1 Rally Queensland Australia Imbil, Australia Australia Simon Evans*[3]
5 August 28–29 Rallye de Nouvelle Calédonie France Nouméa, New Caledonia Australia Brendan Reeves*
6 September 25–26 Rally Indonesia Indonesia Indonesia event cancelled[4]
7 November 6–7 China Rally China China Japan Yuya Sumiyama*

* Not registered for APRC points.

Championship standings

The 2010 APRC for Drivers points was as follows:[5]

Position Driver Vehicle Malaysia Hokkaido Whangarei Queensland N.Calédonie China Total
1 Japan Katsuhiko Taguchi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 1st (37) 1st (37) 6th (8) 3rd (18) Ret 100
2 India Gaurav Gill Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 2nd (26) 3rd (23) 7th (11) 1st (37) DNS Ret 97
3 United Kingdom Alister McRae Proton Satria Neo S2000 Ret (7) Ret (3) 2nd (26) Ret (5) 1st (40) 81
4 Indonesia Rifat Sungkar Subaru Impreza WRX
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 		3rd (20) 5th (10) Ret 1st (39) Ret (2) 71
5 Australia Chris Atkinson Proton Satria Neo S2000 4th (15) Ret Ret (7) 2nd (26) 48
6 New Zealand Hayden Paddon Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 1st (39) 39
7 Japan Hiroshi Yanagisawa Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Ret 2nd (26) Ret (7) 33
8 Australia Glen Raymond Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 2nd (24) 24
9 France Alain Dalstein Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 2nd (24) 24
10 New Zealand Dean Sumner Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3rd (20) 20
11 France Stephane Lechanteur-Socci Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3rd (19) 19
12 China Wei Hongjie Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3rd (17) 17
13 Japan Yuya Sumiyama Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 4th (16) 16
14 China Liu Caodong Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 4th (15) 15
15 New Zealand Sloan Cox Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 4th (14) 14
16 Japan Fuyuhiko Takahashi Subaru Impreza WRX STI 5th (10) 10
16 China Li Wei Subaru Impreza WRX STI 5th (10) 10
18 France Alexis Barbou Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Ret (5) 5
18 France Steeve Octobon Subaru Impreza WRX STI Ret (5) 5
20 Australia Brendan Reeves Subaru Impreza WRX STI Ret (2) 2
20 New Zealand Ben Jagger Subaru Impreza WRX Ret (2) 2
20 China Xu Jun Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Ret (2) 2
23 Japan Satoru Ito Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX Ret (1) 1

References

  1. ^ "2010 Events Calendar". FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. Archived from the original on 2010-06-26. Retrieved 2010-09-04.
  2. ^ "Home". 15 May 2020.
  3. ^ "Home". 15 May 2020.
  4. ^ Wade, Giles (2010-08-26). "Rally Indonesia cancelled, APRC reduced to six rounds". MaxRally. Mediatica. Archived from the original on 28 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
  5. ^ "2010 FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship for Drivers" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2010-11-22.