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, 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 driver Rifat Sungkar got his breakthrough points win at the New Caledonia rally, finishing second behind Pacific Cup registered racer Brendan Reeves, 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. Paddon tied for second with Glen Raymond 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:
RoundDateEventLocationWinner
1April 24–25Malaysian Rally Malaysia Katsuhiko Taguchi
2May 22–23Rally Hokkaido Hokkaidō, Japan Toshi Arai*
3July 3–4Rally of Whangarei Whangarei, New Zealand Hayden Paddon
4July 31–August 1Rally Queensland Imbil, Australia Simon Evans*
5August 28–29Rallye de Nouvelle Calédonie Nouméa, New Caledonia Brendan Reeves*
6September 25–26Rally Indonesia Indonesiaevent cancelled
7November 6–7China Rally China Yuya Sumiyama*

* Not registered for APRC points.

Championship standings

The 2010 APRC for Drivers points was as follows:
PositionDriverVehicleMalaysiaHokkaidoWhangareiQueenslandN.CalédonieChinaTotal
1 Katsuhiko TaguchiMitsubishi Lancer Evolution X1st 1st 6th 3rd Ret100
2 Gaurav GillMitsubishi Lancer Evolution X2nd 3rd 7th 1st DNSRet97
3 Alister McRaeProton Satria Neo S2000Ret Ret 2nd Ret 1st 81
4 Rifat SungkarSubaru Impreza WRX
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX		3rd 5th Ret1st Ret 71
5 Chris AtkinsonProton Satria Neo S20004th RetRet 2nd 48
6 Hayden PaddonMitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX1st 39
7 Hiroshi YanagisawaMitsubishi Lancer Evolution XRet2nd Ret 33
8 Glen RaymondMitsubishi Lancer Evolution X2nd 24
9 Alain DalsteinMitsubishi Lancer Evo2nd 24
10 Dean SumnerMitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX3rd 20
11 Stephane Lechanteur-SocciMitsubishi Lancer Evo3rd 19
12 Wei HongjieMitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX3rd 17
13 Yuya SumiyamaMitsubishi Lancer Evolution X4th 16
14 Liu CaodongMitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX4th 15
15 Sloan CoxMitsubishi Lancer Evolution X4th 14
16 Fuyuhiko TakahashiSubaru Impreza WRX STI5th 10
16 Li WeiSubaru Impreza WRX STI5th 10
18 Alexis BarbouMitsubishi Lancer EvoRet 5
18 Steeve OctobonSubaru Impreza WRX STIRet 5
20 Brendan ReevesSubaru Impreza WRX STIRet 2
20 Ben JaggerSubaru Impreza WRXRet 2
20 Xu JunMitsubishi Lancer Evolution XRet 2
23 Satoru ItoMitsubishi Lancer Evolution IXRet 1