Asia-Pacific Rally Championship

The Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) is an international rally championship organized by the FIA encompassing rounds in Asia and Oceania. Group N cars dominated the championship for many years but in recent years cars built to R5 and S2000 regulations have tended to be the frontrunners.

Asia-Pacific Rally Championship
CountryAsia
Oceania
Inaugural season1988
Drivers' championNew Zealand Hayden Paddon
Official websitefiaaprc.com
Current season
A Proton Satria Neo S2000 driven by 2011 champion Alister McRae at the 2010 Rally Hokkaido

The championship was first held in 1988, created out of the successful expansion of the World Rally Championship into Asia and linking with the debut of Rally Australia and won by Japan's Kenjiro Shinozuka in a Mitsubishi Galant VR-4. Initially the championship had strong support from World Rally Championship teams, aided by more than half the calendar being WRC rallies and by Japanese manufacturers backing half of the front runners with Mazda, Toyota, Mitsubishi and Subaru all running front running teams. Toyota's double World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz won the championship in 1990, Juha Kankkunen, Didier Auriol, Colin McRae, Tommi Makinen, Richard Burns, Richard Burns and Ari Vatanen all won rallies. Several WRC teams used the championship as a junior development squad. By the late 1990s, the big teams were dropping away from the championship, or were running drivers from the region. The 2000 Rally New Zealand was the last joint WRC/APRC event and the WRC teams and manufacturers left and regional teams, like Subaru's New Zealand based team and regional manufacturers like Proton were sharing the wins with privately run teams.

The shift to Group N and away from WRC regulations assisted as only Subaru and Mitsubishi had eligible cars for Group N. By the mid-2000s the teams were all privateers. The growth of Super 2000 regulations saw manufacturer teams return led by Proton.

In recent years (since 2013) Skoda have used the championship to develop young European-based drivers, with Esapekka Lappi, Jan Kopecký, Pontus Tidemand and Ole Christian Veiby all going on to compete at WRC WRC-2 level.

The championship has also been a proving ground for regional talent, even when World Rally teams were competing regional drivers from Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Malaysian driver Karamjit Singh brought the first victory for a driver from one of the emerging APRC nations with Jean-Louis Leyraud from the French Pacific island of New Caledonia and India's Gaurav Gill followed. The occasional European driver has moved into the region to find a cheaper series to compete in instead of the expensive European Rally Championship, like Jussi Valimaki.

Reflecting its roots as a subsidiary of the World Rally Championship it had class championships within the main championship for Group N cars and naturally aspirated Two Litre cars. In more modern times the sub-classes have been split geographically rather than technically, allowing competitors to compete for smaller portions of the series to bolster flagging entry numbers. The championships created were the Asia Cup, taking in Asian continent events in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and China with Thailand joining in 2003. The Pacific Cup takes in Oceania events in Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia.

By taking victory at the 2009 Indonesian Rally, Australian Cody Crocker became the most successful driver in APRC history, winning his fourth consecutive title, all in Subarus. Four drivers have won three APRC titles each; New Zealander Possum Bourne, Kenneth Eriksson of Sweden, Malaysia's Karamjit Singh and India's Gaurav Gill.

The championship presently has events in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Japan, China and India. In the past the championship has run events in New Caledonia, Thailand and Indonesia.

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, APRC returned in 2022 with the first round held in Chennai's Madras International Circuit in India. Debutantes Karna Kadur and co-driver Nikhil Pai won the first round of the Asia Cup and qualified for the finals. Hayden Paddon won the APRC 2022 title.[1] In 2023, Indonesia's Rifat Sungkar and Aussie co-driver Ben Searcy won the APRC title while H.Rahmat and co-driver Hade Mboi lifted the Asia Cup.[2]

List of events edit

Sourced from:[3][4]

Event Years Active
  Rally New Zealand 1988–2000
  Malaysian Rally 1988–98, 2000–01, 2005–present
  Himalayan Rally 1988–90
  Rally Australia 1988–98
  Rally Indonesia 1989–1997, 2000, 2005–09
  Thailand Rally 1992–2003, 2005, 2013
  Hong Kong Beijing Rally 1994–96
  China Rally 1997–2002, 2004–present
  Rally of Canberra 1999–2008, 2017
  Rallye de Nouvelle-Calédonie 2001–02, 2004–2016
  Rally of Rotorua 2001–06
  Rally Hokkaido 2002–present
  Rally India 2003–04
  International Rally of Whangarei 2007–present
  International Rally of Queensland 2009–2016
  Rally of India 2015–present
  International Rally of Otago 2019–present

APRC Champions edit

Sourced from:[5][6]

Season Driver Co-driver Car Team
1988   Kenjiro Shinozuka   Fred Gocentas Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
1989   Rod Millen   Tony Sircombe Mazda 323 4WD
1990   Carlos Sainz   Luis Moya Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165 Toyota Team Europe
1991   Ross Dunkerton   Fred Gocentas Mitsubishi Galant VR-4
1992   Ross Dunkerton   Fred Gocentas Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 Mitsubishi Ralliart
1993   Possum Bourne   Rodger Freeth Subaru Legacy RS Subaru 555 World Rally Team
1994   Possum Bourne   Tony Sircombe Subaru Impreza 555 Subaru 555 World Rally Team
1995   Kenneth Eriksson   Staffan Parmander Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III Mitsubishi Ralliart
1996   Kenneth Eriksson   Staffan Parmander Subaru Impreza 555 Subaru 555 World Rally Team
1997   Kenneth Eriksson   Staffan Parmander Subaru Impreza WRC Subaru 555 World Rally Team
1998   Yoshio Fujimoto   Tony Sircombe Toyota Corolla WRC Tein Sport
1999   Katsuhiko Taguchi   Ron Teoh Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI Mitsubishi Ralliart Malaysia
2000   Possum Bourne   Mark Stacey Subaru Impreza WRX / Subaru Impreza S4 WRC Possum Bourne Motorsport
2001   Karamjit Singh   Allen Oh Proton PERT Proton Eon Rally Team
2002   Karamjit Singh   Allen Oh Proton PERT Proton Eon Rally Team
2003   Armin Kremer   Fred Berssen Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII MRF Racing
2004   Karamjit Singh   Allen Oh Proton PERT Proton Eon Rally Team
2005   Jussi Välimäki   Jarkko Kalliolepo Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MRF Racing
2006   Cody Crocker   Benjamin Atkinson Subaru Impreza WRX STI Les Walkden Racing
2007   Cody Crocker   Benjamin Atkinson Subaru Impreza WRX STI Motor Image Rally Team
2008   Cody Crocker   Benjamin Atkinson Subaru Impreza WRX STI Motor Image Rally Team
2009   Cody Crocker   Benjamin Atkinson Subaru Impreza WRX STI Motor Image Rally Team
2010   Katsuhiko Taguchi   Mark Stacey Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X MRF Racing
2011   Alister McRae   Bill Hayes Proton Satria Neo S2000 Proton Motorsport
2012   Chris Atkinson   Stéphane Prévot Škoda Fabia S2000 MRF Racing
2013   Gaurav Gill   Glenn Macneall Škoda Fabia S2000 MRF Racing
2014   Jan Kopecký   Pavel Dresler Škoda Fabia S2000 MRF Racing
2015   Pontus Tidemand   Emil Axelsson Škoda Fabia S2000 MRF Racing
2016   Gaurav Gill   Glenn Macneall Škoda Fabia R5 MRF Racing
2017   Gaurav Gill   Stéphane Prévot Škoda Fabia R5 MRF Racing
2018   Yūya Sumiyama   Takahiro Yasui Škoda Fabia R5 Cusco Racing
2019   Lin De-wei   Le Kepeng Subaru XV Subaru Rally Team China
2020

2021
Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic
2022   Hayden Paddon   John Kennard Hyundai i20 AP4 Hyundai New Zealand
2023   Rifat Sungkar   Ben Searcy Škoda Fabia R5/Rally2 evo LFN Sederhana Motorsport

Asia Cup edit

Season Champion Car Team
2008   Cody Crocker Subaru Impreza WRX STI Motor Image Rally Team
2009   Cody Crocker Subaru Impreza WRX STI Motor Image Rally Team
2010   Yūya Sumiyama Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X
2011   Alister McRae Proton Satria Neo S2000 Proton Motorsport
2012   Yūya Sumiyama Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2013   Michael Young Toyota Vitz Cusco Racing
2014   Yuya Sumiyama Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2015   Hitoshi Takayama Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2016   Gaurav Gill Škoda Fabia R5 MRF Racing
2017   Gaurav Gill Škoda Fabia R5 MRF Racing
2018   Yūya Sumiyama Škoda Fabia R5 Cusco Racing
2019   Michael Young Toyota C-HR Cusco Racing
2020 Not held
2021 Not held
2022
2023 H. Rahmat

Pacific Cup edit

Season Champion Car Team
2008   Dean Herridge Subaru Impreza WRX STI Cusco Racing
2009   Hayden Paddon Subaru Impreza WRX STI
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX
Team Green
2010   Brendan Reeves Subaru Impreza WRX STI
2011   Chris Atkinson Proton Satria Neo S2000 Proton Motorsport
2012   Chris Atkinson Škoda Fabia S2000 MRF Racing
2013   Simon Knowles Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX
2014   Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 MRF Racing
2015   Pontus Tidemand Škoda Fabia S2000 MRF Racing
2016   Fabian Kreim Škoda Fabia R5 MRF Racing
2017   Ole Christian Veiby Škoda Fabia R5 MRF Racing
2018   Fabio Frisiero Peugeot 208 AP4
2019   Hayden Paddon Hyundai i20 AP4 Paddon Rallysport

Group N edit

Season Champion Car
1996   Yoshihiro Kataoka Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III
1997   Karamjit Singh Proton Wira
1998   Michael Guest Subaru Impreza WRX
1999   Katsuhiko Taguchi Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI
2000   Karamjit Singh Proton Pert
2001   Karamjit Singh Proton Pert
2002   Nico Caldarola Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII
2003   Armin Kremer Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII

2 Litre edit

Season Champion Car
1996   Nobuhiro Tajima Suzuki Baleno
Suzuki Swift
1997   Nobuhiro Tajima Suzuki Baleno
1998   Nobuhiro Tajima Suzuki Baleno
1999   Kenneth Eriksson
  Alister McRae
Hyundai Coupe
Hyundai Coupe
2000   Simon Evans Volkswagen Golf
2001   Nobuhiro Tajima Suzuki Ignis
2002   Nobuhiro Tajima Suzuki Ignis

Manufacturers edit

Season Manufacturer
1996   Mitsubishi
1997   Subaru
1998   Toyota
1999   Mitsubishi
2000   Subaru
2001   Mitsubishi
2002   Proton
2003   Mitsubishi
2004   Proton
2005   Mitsubishi
2006   Subaru
2007   Subaru
2008   Subaru
2009   Subaru
2010   Mitsubishi
2011   Proton
2012   Škoda
2013   Škoda
2014   Škoda
2015   Škoda
2016   Škoda
2017   Škoda
2018   Škoda
2019 No Award

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Karna Kadur wins South India Rally". The Times of India. 27 March 2022. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  2. ^ BruceMcK (27 November 2023). "Sungkar and Searcy win 2023 FIA APRC title". FIA APRC. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  3. ^ "Motorsport Winners".
  4. ^ Shacki. "eWRC-results.com - rally database". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  5. ^ "APRC History".
  6. ^ Shacki. "Top stats - eWRC-results". eWRC-results.com. Retrieved 6 November 2023.

External links edit