2010 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship

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

2010 Asia-Pacific Rally season
Previous: 2009 Next: 2011

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 Katsuhiko Taguchi
2 May 22–23 Rally Hokkaido Hokkaidō, Japan Toshi Arai*[2]
3 July 3–4 Rally of Whangarei Whangarei, New Zealand Hayden Paddon
4 July 31–August 1 Rally Queensland Imbil, Australia Simon Evans*[3]
5 August 28–29 Rallye de Nouvelle Calédonie Nouméa, New Caledonia Brendan Reeves*
6 September 25–26 Rally Indonesia Indonesia event cancelled[4]
7 November 6–7 China Rally China 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 Katsuhiko Taguchi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 1st (37) 1st (37) 6th (8) 3rd (18) Ret 100
2 Gaurav Gill Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 2nd (26) 3rd (23) 7th (11) 1st (37) DNS Ret 97
3 Alister McRae Proton Satria Neo S2000 Ret (7) Ret (3) 2nd (26) Ret (5) 1st (40) 81
4 Rifat Sungkar Subaru Impreza WRX
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX		 3rd (20) 5th (10) Ret 1st (39) Ret (2) 71
5 Chris Atkinson Proton Satria Neo S2000 4th (15) Ret Ret (7) 2nd (26) 48
6 Hayden Paddon Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 1st (39) 39
7 Hiroshi Yanagisawa Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Ret 2nd (26) Ret (7) 33
8 Glen Raymond Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 2nd (24) 24
9 Alain Dalstein Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 2nd (24) 24
10 Dean Sumner Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3rd (20) 20
11 Stephane Lechanteur-Socci Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 3rd (19) 19
12 Wei Hongjie Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 3rd (17) 17
13 Yuya Sumiyama Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 4th (16) 16
14 Liu Caodong Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX 4th (15) 15
15 Sloan Cox Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X 4th (14) 14
16 Fuyuhiko Takahashi Subaru Impreza WRX STI 5th (10) 10
16 Li Wei Subaru Impreza WRX STI 5th (10) 10
18 Alexis Barbou Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Ret (5) 5
18 Steeve Octobon Subaru Impreza WRX STI Ret (5) 5
20 Brendan Reeves Subaru Impreza WRX STI Ret (2) 2
20 Ben Jagger Subaru Impreza WRX Ret (2) 2
20 Xu Jun Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X Ret (2) 2
23 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.
  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.
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