ASIA PACIFIC RALLYCHAMPIONSHIP 2018

Photo: Asia Pacific Sports Media

2018 is a milestone year for the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champi-onship, the 30th anniversary for the championship that’s been running since 1988. To mark the occasion many of the photos used in the 2018 APRC brochure feature former champions or special moments in APRC history. The photo on this page is 4-times APRC Champion Cody Crocker at 2007 Malaysian Rally.

05 - 06 May New Zealand APRC Pacific Cup Junior Cup

02 - 03 June Australia APRC Pacific Cup Junior Cup

21 - 22 July Malaysia APRC Asia Cup Junior Cup

15 - 16 September Japan APRC Asia Cup Junior Cup

21 - 22 October China APRC Asia Cup

01 - 02 December India APRC Asia Cup

2018 Calendar The FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship is spread through a diverse range of countries, climates, cultures and a huge population base of over 2.5 billion people.

In 2018 six events make up the championship starting in New Zealand with the fast and smooth roads of Rally of Whangarei, followed by Australia’s Rally of Canberra based in the nation’s capital city.

The APRC then heads to Malaysia to the very hot and humid Rally of Johor, then North to the fast forestry roads of Rally Hokkaido, Japan.

Next is the China Rally and a return to the mountain roads around the city of Longyou, 400 kilometres south-west of Shanghai.

The finale is once again the Coffee Day India Rally, held on the plantations roads of Chikmagalur in South India.

For 2018, competitors will now nominate a Championship or Cup, rather than indi-vidual rallies. Points will only be scored at nominated Championship rallies, with no penalties imposed for any rallies that are missed.

More information at www.fiaaprc.com or contact APRC Coordinator Murray Brown.

Malaysia

New ZealandWhangarei

Auckland

Date: 05 - 06 May 2018Location: WhangareiPopulation: 4.7 million Nearest International Airport: Auckland 2.5 hoursWebsite: www.rallywhangarei.co.nzAverage temperature: 12°C - 19°C Description: The ultimate driver’s rally. Smooth, fast cambered roads, many previously used by the WRC.

Photo: Ross Hyde

Skoda has supported the APRC since 2012 and in 2013 Esapekka Lappi from Finland drove for the team – the first of many Euro-pean Skoda drivers. Lappi was followed by Jan Kopecky (Czech Republic), Pontus Tidemand (Sweden), Fabien Kreim (Germany) and in 2017 Ole Christian Veiby (Norway). 2013 was the first year of a multi-year partnership with Wurth.

Canberra Rally 2007. Australian Cody Crocker is the only driver to have won the APRC Drivers championship four times (2006 – 2009). Other drivers were equally as fast, but Crocker’s secret was his ability to finish even when the conditions were atrocious such as China Rally 2007 when he was one of only two competitors to complete the event. Photo: Hiroshi Seiki

Australia

CanberraSydneyBrisbane

Date: 02 - 03 June 2018Location: Canberra, ACT Population: 381,488 Nearest International Airport: CanberraWebsite: www.nationalcapitalrally.com.auAverage temperature (June): 12°CDescription: After a nine year break the APRCreturns to Canberra, Australia’s National Capital and home to sweeping dusty roads in the Cotterand Kowen forests.

Kuala LumpurJohor Bahru

Date: 21 - 22 July 2018Location: Johor Bahru Population: 28 million Nearest International Airport: Singapore 1.5 hoursKuala Lumpur International Airport: 4 hoursWebsite: www.malaysianrally.comAverage temp: 30°C and 95% humidityDescription: The heat and humidity make this event one of the most challenging of the championship. Great location just across the cause-way from Singapore.

Malaysia

Photos: Asia Pacific Sports Media

Malaysian Rally 2000 and New Zealander Possum Bourne who won the APRC drivers champion 3 times: 1993, 1994 and 2000 – each timing driving a Subaru. His co-driver for the 2000 APRC was Mark Stacey who currently works as team-coordinator for the MRF Skoda team.

Photos: Asia Pacific Sports Media

Date: 17 - 19 June 2016

Photo: Ross Hyde

JapanObihiro

Tokyo

Date: 15 - 16 September 2018Location: Obihiro, HokkaidoPopulation: 127 million Nearest International Airport: SapporoWebsite: www.rally-hokkaido.comAverage temperature: 15°CDescription: Fanatical fans on fast and narrow roads with a soft-base that can to turns to deepruts on the second pass.

The 2004 Rally Hokkaido doubled as an APRC and World Rally Championship (WRC) event and Australian Chris Atkinson raised a few eyebrows with top ten stage times in the WRC and led the APRC race for several stages before a puncture lost him time to eventual winner Karamjit Singh. Atkinson’s giant-killing performance in Japan launched his WRC career with Subaru in 2005. Atkinson driving for MRF Skoda won the drivers championship in 2012

China

Shanghai

Date: 21 - 22 October 2018 Location: Zhangye, West ChinaPopulation: 1.4 billion Nearest International Airports: Shanghai, XianWebsite: www.fasc.org.cnAverage temperature: 15°C - 30°C Description: In one of world’s largest economies rallying is huge, with 120+ entries in their CRC events and teams of up to ten cars!

Longyou

Proton launched their S2000 Satria in 2009 at the Rally of Indonesia. Alister McRae and co-driver Bill Hayes won the final event of 2011 APRC, the China Rally to secure the drivers and co-drivers champion-ship plus coveted Manufacturers title for Proton.

PHOTO: Asia Pacific Sports Media

India

Photos: Asia Pacific Sports Media

India

Date: 01 - 02 December 2018Location: ChikmagalurIn the foothills of the World famous Western Ghats.Coordinates: 13.32°N 75.77°EPopulation: 1.2 billion Nearest Intl Airport: Bengaluru (Bangalore), 5 hours.Website: www.mscc.org.inAverage temperature: 30°CDescription: Gravel and dirt roads held on a huge coffee plantation with the colours and cuisine of India.

New Delhi

Mumbai

Chikmagalur

The 2003 India Rally held in Pune, was the first of many champion-ship titles won by the MRF Tyres team. Considering the team and the tyres had only been competing for one year it was a remarkable achievement and has been followed by eight further driver, team and manufacturer titles.

Photo: Asia Pacific Sports Media

Competitor InformationFIA Asia Pacific Rally ChampionshipThe Premier FIA Championship of the APRC, this championship has been contested since 1988.

The winning driver and codriver are expected to attend the FIA Gala at the end of the year to receive the FIA APRC Champions trophies.At time of registration, drivers must nominate which Championships or Cups they wish to score points at. Points are only awarded to APRC reg-istered drivers and codrivers for rall ies in the Championship or Cup that is nominated.

FIA APRC 2 Championship (formerly Production Cup)Open to all FIA homologated Group N cars. These are cars based on stand-ard production models as homologated by the FIA. This championship pro-vides for competitors who wish to continue to run their existing Gp N cars (including ASN cars approved by the APRC executive) and compete with similar cars for the FIA APRC 2 Championship.

It is a FIA sanctioned championship aimed at competitors without the need to invest in the more competitive purpose built class cars. The FIA APRC 2 Championship will be contested over the 6 rallies of APRC. There will be an APRC 2 Cup for each of the Asia and Pacific Championships.

FIA APRC Asia and Pacific CupsThe Asia and Pacific Cups are separate competitions within the APRC that allows teams/drivers to compete at events in either region. For Pacific Cup, competitors may compete in the 2 Pacific rall ies. Asia Cup will feature 4 events - teams can compete in up to 4 rallies, the best 3 results will count to the final standings. It is possible to register for the APRC and one of the Cups.

FIA APRC Junior ChampionshipThe Junior Championship provides an opportunity for young drivers from anywhere in the world to compete in a shorter series of FIA sanctioned events in either 2WD or 4WD cars (excluding ASN, R5 and S2000) - the ideal class being NR4 . Junior Championship competitors compete in four FIA APRC rallies: New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia and Japan. Minimum qualification is one rally in the Pacific and one in the Asia region. Limited to drivers aged 28 years old or younger as at 1 January 2018.

APRC Teams TrophyThe Teams Trophy has provided an opportunity for teams to contest an APRC regional trophy alongside the overall APRC championship. Details can be found in 2018 FIA Regulations (APRC) or by contacting APRC Coordina-tor Murray Brown.

FIA APRC 3 Championship (formerly 2WD Cup)This championship replaces the previous 2WD Cup and is open to all drivers of 2WD cars for all 6 rallies of APRC. As for APRC 2 Championship (above) there will be APRC 3 Cups for each of the Asia and Pacific Championships.

FIA Asia Pacific Rally Cup powered by Würth.This is a competition open to ALL drivers in the international event (including non-registered APRC drivers and co-drivers) and there is a podium presen-tation for the top-three drivers in the international event where Wurth prizes are presented to the overall winner, 2nd and 3rd overall.

All details and eligibility requirements can be found in the 2018 FIA Regulations (APRC) or by contacting APRC Coordinator Murray Brown.

Karamjit Singh and co-driver Allen Oh were APRC champions three times for Proton in 2001, 2002 and 2004. They were the inaugural winners of the FIA Production (Group N) World Rally Championship in 2002. This is Singh and Oh on the 2004 Canberra Rally, Australia

Photo: Asia Pacific Sports Media

Even though the championship is held over such a large geographic area, the logistics of shipping cars and equipment are surprisingly easy when all shipping is handled by APRC coordinator Murray Brown – who performs a dual role as logistics coordinator and competitor liaison representative at all events and Working Group meetings. Co-ordinated shipping means that all containers arrive and depart at the same time – with considerable savings for all teams.

Based on 2016/2017 costs, the average shipping budget for a team utilizing a 40’ SOC container for the whole championship (six events) is US$54,000 for ocean freight, do-mestic transport and logistics. Assistance and advice will be given on other aspects including air freight, customs clearance, documentation, insurance and local assistance.

Shipping from home port to first event, and return to home port after last event, can easily be arranged. Where possible all containers and equipment are handled as one import and export providing a cost effective, efficient logistics solution.

Coordinated Logistics

China2004 China Rally was a one-off visit to Huizhou City an event won by MRF Mitsubishi driver Katsu Taguchi. However, the highlight for everyone was the interesting logistic arrangements on Day 1.

Photo: Asia Pacific Sports Media

Eligibility of Cars

New Caledonia

The APRC has been authorised to approve eligible cars, that meet specific criteria, under the National Car Approval process. This is in addition to cars that comply with the JAF RJ, CAMS & MSNZ AP4 regulations and maxi cars already locally homolo-gated in Argentina.

With the growing manufacturer and consumer interest in alternative fuel cars, the APRC has introduced a class of cars for Alternative Energy Vehicles (AEV).

New for 2018 is a class of competition for Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) or Crossover vehicles. Such vehicles will be eligible under the APRC National Car Approval process (ASN) and will have a separate competition designated as SUV.

Application for approval of these cars can be made via the secretariat and further details are available in the 2018 RRSR (V4 – APRC) or from:Murray Brown, APRC Coordinator: murray.brown@fiaaprc.com or APRC Secretariat: aprcsecretariat@cams.com.au

MalaysiaPhoto: Mitsuru Kotake

Television and MediaE ach event in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship receives extensive international televi-sion and media coverage.

On-Event television news feeds and a dedicated TV series distributed worldwide ensures the APRC is seen by TV viewers in over 118 countries with a measured global annual audi-ence of 463 million households.

Broadcasters include FOX Sports Asia (STAR Sports in China) and Australia, SONY TEN Sports India, Outdoor Channel Asia, Guangdong TV China and Motorsport-TV Europe.

APRC social media channels include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

APRC Social Media Fan Base:Facebook: India : 40%, Indonesia : 32.3%, Malaysia: 7.3%, Australia : 4.3%, Sri Lanka: 4.2%. YouTube: Malaysia: 21%, India: 16%, Indonesia: 15%, Japan:13%, Australia:4%. Twitter: India: 22%, Japan:13%, Australia:12%, UK: 8%, Spain: 4%, NZ: 4%, USA: 4%.

APRC Facebook 2017: 115,000+ Fans across three pages, average of 39,459 views per video clip.

APRC YouTube 2017: 169,000 views, 410,000 minutes, average duration 2.25 minutes.

In 2015 an independent TV evaluation report was generated by Repucom Asia, a company owned by Neilson Holdings. Repucom calculated the average advertising costs for each of the APRC TV broadcasters, applied a QI media value of 26.65% of the full value and established that each second of the APRC TV series has an advertising value of US$741/second when spread across all the networks. Copies of the Repucom Exposure Analysis report are available on request.

Further details are available at www.aprc.tv

Photo:Geoff RidderAustralia

Würth – APRC PartnershipWürth: Global headquarters in Germany Industry Fasteners, chemicals, safety products, tools Products 125,000Founded 1945Headquarters Künzelsau, GermanyRevenue € 11.8 bnEmployees 72,000 (2017)Website www.wuerth.com

The long-term and very successful partnership between Würth and the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) that began in 2013, will continue in 2018 with an option for 2019 and beyond. Würth is a global company headquartered in Germany selling over 125,000 products from tools to technical chemicals.

At each event Würth supplies teams with a large selection of its technical chemicals and supports the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Cup powered by Würth – a competition open to ALL drivers in the international events with a podium presentation for 1st, 2nd and 3rd competitors.

Serge Oppedisano, CEO for Würth Australia & New Zealand and Member of the Asia Pacific Strategy Board for the Würth Group: “The relationship we share with the APRC is one that we value highly. It allows us to lo-cally, reach a large portion of end users and customers and showcase what Würth can deliver in terms of its high-quality products and systems in a tough and often challeng-ing environment. Our passion for all forms of Motorsport has been one that we have enjoyed for many years and the FIA APRC is a great backdrop for our local Asia Pacific market.”

Lane Heenan, CEO Racetorque Engineering / MRF Skoda team:“The continued Würth support to the APRC is fantastic news for competitors. It is a per-fect match really, we get great products to use and to show case them in the toughest conditions”.

Former APRC drivers in the World Rally Championship“Competing in the APRC was a big help”.

Former APRC and MRF Skoda driver Esapekka Lappi got his WRC career off to an epic start by winning his home event the Rally of Finland for the new Toyota Gazoo Rally Team.

At the final round of the 2017 World Rally Championship, held in Coff’s Harbour Australia Lappi talked about how competing in the 2013 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) helped him in the early stages of his rally career “First of all it was a big help to get used to the time difference, to learn how to re-cover as fast as possible and the second was the surface - every event was on gravel but the surface was different in every rally. And this event in Australia, we did one event in Queensland and OK its different but it helps, I think it’s a good series for sure.

Lappi’s team boss is Tommi Makinen, a four-times World Rally Champion.

Makinen competed in the 1995 and ’96 APRC for the works supported Mitsubishi team and has good mem-ories of competing in the APRC. The Finnish driver is confident the experience he gained was instrumental in building him into a complete driver “I remember 1995 when I started my career for Mitsubishi it was a real-ly big help for me as we did all Asia-Pacific rounds. In 1996 when I won my first (World) title, competing in the APRC that same year was a big help.

In his new role as team principal for the Japanese Toy-ota Gazoo Rally Team, Makinen finds those earlier years of competition a great source of information. “it certainly helps when we are competing in these regions to have an idea of what you need and what the conditions are going to be like, especially when we are not able to do any testing in any events outside Europe. Australia is an important market for Toyota and of course it would be good to have more (WRC) events in Asia and of Japan would be one of those”.

Makinen feels that competing in the APRC has really benefited Lappi “Rallying is really dif-ficult when you are fighting to go fastest, you need to understand every little detail, howto drive in different conditions and handle the different grip, so many different elements. If you know it and familiar with it already, it’s a big help’.

AustraliaPhoto: Asia Pacific Sports Media

Tommi Makinen Esapekka Lappi Victory in 2013 APRC

1988 Kenjiro Shinozuka Japan Mitsubishi1989 Rod Millen New Zealand Mazda1990 Carlos Sainz Spain Toyota1991 Ross Dunkerton Australia Mitsubishi1992 Ross Dunkerton Australia Mitsubishi1993 Possum Bourne New Zealand Subaru1994 Possum Bourne New Zealand Subaru1995 Kenneth Eriksson Sweden Mitsubishi1996 Kenneth Eriksson Sweden Subaru1997 Kenneth Eriksson Sweden Subaru1998 Yoshio Fujimoto Japan Toyota1999 Katsuhiko Taguchi Japan Mitsubishi2000 Possum Bourne New Zealand Subaru2001 Karamjit Singh Malaysia Proton2002 Karamjit Singh Malaysia Proton2003 Armin Kremer Germany Mitsubishi2004 Karamjit Singh Malaysia Proton2005 Jussi Valimaki Finland Mitsubishi2006 Cody Crocker Australia Subaru2007 Cody Crocker Australia Subaru2008 Cody Crocker Australia Subaru2009 Cody Crocker Australia Subaru2010 Katsu Taguchi Japan Mitsubishi2011 Alister McRae United Kingdom Proton2012 Chris Atkinson Australia Skoda2013 Gaurav Gill India Skoda2014 Jan Kopecky Czech Republic Skoda2015 Pontus Tidemand Sweden Skoda2016 Gaurav Gill India Skoda2017 Gaurav Gill India Skoda

`

APRC Championship Winners - Drivers

1995 Rally of MalaysiaPhoto: Asia Pacpfpc Sports Media

2018 is a milestone year for the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, the 30th anniversary for the championship that has been running since 1988.

The idea of a Pacific Rim championship had been on the drawing board since the 1970’s however it wasn’t until the late 1980’s that the climate was ripe for such a series. Japan had become a world leader in automotive manufacturing, and an established player in international rallying. Economic prosperity in Asia opened up new marketing opportunities throughout the region, and with the wealth came a growing number of drivers from countries such as Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

First held in 1988, the debut series included events in Australia, New Zealand, India and Malaysia, and was won by Japanese driver Kenjiro Shinozuka in his Mitsubishi. His success ensured a high profile for the series in Japan and Mazda gave Californian based Kiwi Rod Millen the nod to run a 323 4WD on its behalf, winning the title in 1989.

The series went from strength to strength, by the mid 1990’s second only to the world championship in stature, attracting full factory teams from Mitsubishi, Subaru, Toyota and drivers the calibre of Colin McRae and Kenneth Eriksson, the latter taking the title three times from 1995-97.

The growing Asian automotive industry had also become involved – Proton from Malaysia, Hyundai and KIA from Korea.

That increased influence from Asia has continued into the 21st century and one where the series has been dominated by Indian tyre manufacturer MRF andlately by Indian driver Gaurav Gill.

Text from “The New Zealand Rally – Celebrating 25 Years”, by David Thomson.

Photo: Asia Pacific Sports Media

APRC 2017 CATEGORY WINNERS

Ole Christian Veiby and Stig Rune Skjærmoen (Norway)Second Overall Drivers/Co-drivers and WÜRTH CupFIA APRC Pacific Cup for Drivers and Co-drivers

Gaurav Gill (India) and Stephan Prevot (Belgium)FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship for Drivers/Co-drivers

FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Cup powered by WÜRTHFIA APRC Asia Cup for Drivers and Co-drivers

FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Cup for Manufacturers (Skoda)Asia-Pacific Rally Championship - Teams Trophy (Team MRF)

Robert Blomberg and Lars Andersson (Sweden)Third Overall Drivers/Co-drivers and WÜRTH Cup

PG Abhilash and Srikanth Gowda (India)FIA APRC Production Cup for Drivers/Co-drivers

FIA APRC 2 Pacific Cup for Drivers(equal with Fuyuhiko Takahashi Japan)Photo: Asia Pacific Sports Media

APRC SecretariatConfederation of Australian Motor Sport Ltd851 Dandenong RoadMalvern East, VIC 3145, AustraliaTel: +61 3 9593 7722Email: aprcsecretariat@cams.com.au

APRC Coordinator and ShippingMurray Bown

FIA Asia Pacific Rally ChampionshipCountdown Motorsport Logistics

Mob: +63 908 310 5888Email: murray.brown@fiaaprc.com

Television & MediaBrian Young

APRC.TV LtdTel: +64 7 315 7877

Mob: +64 29 315 7877Email: brian@aprc.tv

www.aprc.tvwww.fiaaprc.tv

One of the most iconic and picturesque Pacific events was Rally New Caledonia, sadly no longer part of the APRC calendar. This is MRF Mit-subishi driver Katsu Taguchi from Japan crossing a large river in 2004. Taguchi was APRC champion in 1999 and 2010

Front Cover: APSMBackCover: Ross Hyde